Ever the Same
by Suicidal Mickey Mouse
Summary: Nancy may be leading a different life than she had expected, but that doesn't mean everything's different. Fame can't take away who you are after all. Eventual NancyFrank pairing. Rating for eventual chapters. Complete summary inside.
1. This is Your Life

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I also am not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or other pop culture entities mentioned in this story.

Author's Notes: I have been super busy lately (school is absolutely kicking my butt) but this story idea has been bugging me to be written, so I am making my return to the fandom. Updates will most likely not be frequent, unless I'm on vacation, but I can assure that they will come.

Full Summary: Nancy Drew may be famous now, thanks to a case gone awry, but that doesn't mean mysteries are going to stop finding her. She's managed to stay away from them for a few years, but now they're back and with a vengeance. As she prepares to film the third season of her TV show, a stalker begins to rear his head, and while she's busy working, it's up to some old friends to protect her and catch him. Nancy finds that she's stuck behind boundaries of being unable to work on a case, while the brothers have to deal with the limelight radiating off of Nancy. Can the trio handle the changes and solve the case? Eventual Nancy/Frank pairing.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter One-This Is Your Life**

Excerpt from Nancy Drew's blog:

_May 15, 2008_

_A lot of you have been asking me how I got to where I am today. I never asked to be famous. If you'd asked me a year ago what my plans for the future were, I would have told you about my plans to become an FBI agent. I was a private detective before I did any of the things you see me in now. Ironically enough, it was a case that I worked for the FBI, because they didn't have a fully trained agent who could go undercover, that forced me to change my plans. _

_When I agreed to go on America's Next Top Model to help protect the aspiring models from someone who was trying to threaten the lives of everyone on the show, I was very careful. I dyed my hair brown, wore green contact lenses, and used the name Natalie. I wanted to be able to go back to my normal life after the case was over. Those of you who know that I was on the show know that I came in third overall. The producers had agreed that despite whatever aptitude I had shown for modeling, they would cut me as soon as the situation with the threats was under control. _

_However, I didn't get them agree to keep my identity a secret. The story that a private detective had gone undercover on the show broke a day before the show's premiere and not long after, my identity was out. People found out that I could model, and they wanted to know more about me; agencies wanted to sign me. I ignored it all, and tried to live my life normally. I went back to planning my wedding and solving mysteries, just trying to keep a low profile. Of course, my normal life didn't really allow for a low profile. My fiancé and I were in New York, taking a walk through Central Park. I noticed that something was off. There was a college-aged girl, jogging alone, and she didn't notice a man that was following her. I kept an eye on her and I tackled the man as he pulled a knife and went to attack her. He ended up being a man that had raped and murdered three other girls._

_The story made the morning news, and I did interviews for the three major morning news shows. After that, I couldn't really ignore the publicity that was coming my way. The Today Show gave me a weekly spot to provide safety and self defense tips for the viewers. I had writers and producers who wanted to develop television shows and movies based on my cases, designers and products who wanted me to model for them. It was a little overwhelming._

_I was starting to make decisions about it all when I got a phone call from the producers of Dancing with the Stars. One of their female celebrities had torn her Achilles tendon about two days into rehearsals, and they needed a replacement, fast. Apparently I was famous enough. I decided to do the show, if only to give my dad something to actually be proud about after all the…less-than-little-girl photo shoots I had done when I was undercover._

_And this is where the story gets familiar for most of you. I started working on my TV show, __**Sub Rosa**__, while I was on Dancing with the Stars. I won the show, and Sub Rosa was a successful mid-season replacement. That is the story of how I got to where I am now. I hope this satisfies some of your curiosity._

_Nancy Drew_

_Safety Tip of the Week: When walking alone, carry either your house key or your car key firmly in your hand with the tip pointing outwards. It's a quick weapon that will surprise an attacker.

* * *

_

Nancy Drew hung up her cell phone, ending the call with her best friend and personal assistant, Bess Marvin, as she stepped out of her Los Angeles apartment complex. She greeted some of the waiting paparazzi with a smile and a wave before adjusting the sunglasses she wore. The 24-year-old made her way to the car that was waiting to take her to the airport. Coincidentally Bess was waiting in the car and had called her from it. Most of her family and friends were still back in the Midwest, living the lives that they had either already had, or at least already had planned. The only uprooted one was Bess, who wasn't feeling all that uprooted considering it had been a long time dream of hers to live in LA and mingle with the rich and famous.

The second season of Nancy's television show had finished filming two days ago. She would have a week and a half of vacation, to be spent back home in River Heights, before she had two weeks of rehearsals and then a month and a half of touring on the Dancing With the Stars tour before it was back to filming the third season of Sub Rosa. It wasn't much of a break, but Nancy didn't mind too much. She had never led a calm life when she wasn't famous, and she didn't intend to slow down now that she was.

"Hey, Bess." Nancy greeted as she got into the car. She closed the door after one last wave, removed her sunglasses and buckled her seatbelt. "Are you ready to get back home?"

Bess rolled her eyes as the car started to drive. "Are you kidding? My parents would go completely mental if I wasn't. My mom said that if she doesn't get to meet Brian soon she was going to fly out here and follow me until I go to see him. Honestly, a girl gets engaged and the fiancé is all her mother can think about." Brian Jenson was one of the writers on Sub Rosa; he and Bess had hit it off quickly once they had met and the relationship was soon to follow.

"Well, you met him out here, you dated him out here, you got engaged to him out here and you never brought him back home to meet them. The wedding is in three months." Nancy pointed out. "I take it he's still meeting us at the Chicago airport then."

"Yeah he's gonna be coming in from New York, and he'll ride with us until we drop you off at your dad's. He's pretty nervous though. He's all worried about my parents approving of a 'Hollywood man'. That's what he called himself. Can you believe that?"

Nancy laughed. "Did you tell him that it's not your parents he has to worry about? George will completely beat him into the ground if he hurts you."

"I didn't have to tell him that." Bess shook her head. "You did. Multiple times. He really doesn't want to meet her. Thanks. I don't know why you felt the need to do that. We both know perfectly well that Brian is not going to hurt me."

"Bess. I'm your family when we're out here. It's my job to scare your boyfriends when your real family can't."

"How kind of you."

"Besides, it was fun. I needed to goad him into getting rid of that pathetic romance between Avery and Lionel. I gave him survival tips for the Marvin and Fayne clans, Lionel and Avery break up due to…we'll call it artistic differences, everyone's happy."

Bess pulled out her compact and flipped it open in order to adjust her makeup. "That is all so…delightfully like me. I'm telling you Nancy, LA has worked wonders for you. You get to have so much more fun than you did back in River Heights." Her pink lip gloss came out of her purse. "All this fame stuff has turned you into a normal twenty something girl."

"I was normal." Nancy said, only slightly offended by the implication.

"If a little work oriented. Now you're working and having fun. It's a win-win. Now if we could only find you a man you could have the trifecta for a perfect life."

"That's not exactly a priority Bess."

"And what exactly is a priority? You can't go about saving the world anymore. You have a TV show to film."

"And a dance tour to work on, and film scripts to read, and spokesperson contracts to look over. I don't have time to breathe let alone foster a relationship with some guy that I don't know." Nancy sighed.

"Then foster one with some guy you do know."

"Bess. We're going back home for the first time since Christmas. Don't you think we can leave my love life to the paparazzi for a few days and just…be happy to be seeing everyone?"

Bess closed her compact with a sigh. "I guess that's fair. We'll be back to work soon enough and then I can fix you up all I want."

* * *

Nancy was opening the door to her old home in River Heights while Bess and Brian pulled out of the driveway in their rental car. She was glad to be back home. As she had told Bess in the car on the way to the airport, she barely had time to breathe. River Heights was the perfect place to get back into the swing of that particular action. It was not an easily excitable town. Her home in particular, very rarely changed. For this, Nancy was exceedingly grateful. There was nothing like being able to go back to a completely normal life after months of being in the spotlight; she had just never realized it until she was actually thrown into the spotlight. 

"Dad! Hannah! I'm home!" She called out, placing her bags on the floor of the entryway.

"Nancy!" She was barely alone for two seconds before her father was in the entryway too, pulling her into a tight hug. Nancy got the feeling that he might have been watching the driveway, but didn't want to appear too eager. "I've missed you so much. How was your flight?"

"As much fun as non-stop transcontinental flight can get." Nancy had her mouth open to say more, but Hannah also entered, wiping her hands on her apron.

She practically pulled Nancy out of Carson's arms for an embrace of her own. "Nancy, you're back. I was just getting to work on making your favorite dinner. At least I hope you still love shrimp scampi and strawberry cheesecake."

"Don't worry, I haven't gone completely champagne and caviar on you yet, Hannah. And trust me. Anything homemade sounds good."

Hannah pulled back and gave her surrogate daughter the once over. "Well you don't look any worse for the wear. You really should do something with your hair though. It's getting too long and scraggly."

"Talk to Bess' fiancé. I can't do anything with it until I find out where the show is going. How are you guys?"

"We're doing all right." Carson answered, smiling broadly. "We've missed you, but we get to talk to you every night, and we see you at least once a week on prime time television."

"So you're still watching the show?"

"We never miss an episode." Hannah's eyes twinkled. "We'll be having a viewing tonight."

Nancy rolled her eyes. "You know, since I'm here, you don't have to use the show as a method of contact."

"If we don't watch it, we won't be able to follow your storyline. Besides, it's nearly the season finale." Hannah shook her head. "I read in this week's TV Guide that Avery is starting a case that will change her life forever."

"That may be. It doesn't mean that I'm going to tell you about it or give you secrets when you watch it."

"Oh you." Hannah tutted and waved her hand. "Don't think that you're going to get away with that mouth while you're home. Now, why don't you and your father go out on the deck in the back yard and catch up while I finish dinner? There's some lemonade, and it's absolutely beautiful out there."

"Are you sure, Hannah? I'm sure Dad and I could help you out in the kitchen."

"Don't be silly. You've been working for the last five months with nary a break. You and your father can both go and relax."

"I don't want you to be lonely in here…" Nancy trailed off. She didn't feel quite right coming home to do absolutely nothing, and she wasn't sure why Hannah was encouraging it. No one in her family had ever encouraged laziness, except in extreme circumstances; Nancy doubted that her return to River Heights counted as an extreme circumstance.

Hannah shook her head, yet again, this time with a twinkle in her eye. "I don't think that I'll be very lonely in here."

"What do you mean you--,"

"Just go out on to the deck." Hannah cut Nancy off and began to guide both Nancy and Carson towards the door to the backyard. "I can assure you that I will have plenty of company in here."

Nancy still didn't really know what was going on until she was standing outside on the deck. There was a long table set up that held various plates of fruits, crackers, and cheeses, with a cooler of drinks next to it. The grill was on, and the entire deck and backyard was packed to the brim with people.

"Welcome home Nancy!"

Nancy smiled broadly and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. She knew that she probably should have suspected a surprise party, but she just…hadn't. Her skills as a detective were lacking slightly in light of the focus of her career. "You guys got me."

"Believe me, we're definitely proud of it."

* * *

Nancy had spent quite a bit of time mingling with anyone and everyone who had shown up to the welcome home barbecue that her father and Hannah had organized. Various friends and family members of course, along with Bess, George and their families were all there. Making the rounds had taken quite a bit of time and she had yet to have a chance to eat. After her flight across country, where she had opted not to eat the cuisine offered by the airline, this left her starving. So while most of the crowd had either left the party or crammed themselves into the Drew household living room to watch the new episode of Sub Rosa, Nancy had opted to sit outside by the fire pit with a couple of the burgers that had been made. 

"So are you too good to watch your own TV show now, or are you just too good to be around the lowly plebeians inside?"

Nancy turned around and smiled at the joking remark. "Neither. I'm starved." She held up the plate with burgers as evidence, and then put the plate down in order to stand and hug her caller. "Frank, I'm so glad you and Joe could make it. I'm sorry I couldn't get around to you guys earlier."

"So are we." Frank Hardy smiled broadly. "I don't think we've seen you since your show first started. We've all been so busy…" He trailed off as they pulled apart, both taking seats by the fire.

"Yeah. I've heard business is really booming for you guys."

"We've had a few cases." Frank nodded. "And we've been having a lot of fun. Van has been working with Joe a lot. She's thinking about going for her license."

"That's great. Joe must be thrilled."

"He is. Unless the case gets dangerous. Then he freaks."

"Sounds like Joe." Nancy shook her head. "So the cases have been interesting, then?"

"Some of them. We had this black market organ trafficking case a few weeks ago. It all started when we were on vacation in Cabo San Lucas, and I stumbled across this body that didn't have a whole lot left to it." Frank began to describe the case piece by piece. He went on for a few minutes before he noticed the look on Nancy's face. "You miss it, don't you?"

Nancy started out of her daze. "Miss what?"

"Solving mysteries."

"Of course I do. It was my life for how many years?"

"I'm sorry." Frank apologized quietly.

"For what?"

"I'm going on about the stuff that I've done. The stuff that you always wanted to do. The stuff that you can't do now. I'm being completely insensitive and--,"

"Frank," Nancy placed a gentle hand on his forearm to stop him from continuing. "I asked you to tell me about the case."

"But--,"

"If nothing else I get to live vicariously through you. I'm too far in the public eye to do most of that stuff now. Even if I could, my manager would flip." She rolled her eyes. "She freaks because I do my own stunts, I doubt she'd like it if I went chasing after men who kill people for their organs."

"But you're happy right? Living out there, with Sub Rosa and all that other stuff makes you happy?"

Nancy briefly debated giving him an answer the likes of which she would give to the press. She was getting bad about doing that with her friends and family instead of telling them the truth about what was going on in her life. It was a habit that she knew she should break, but didn't exactly want to. "Not as happy as solving mysteries made me." She decided on the truth, despite her better judgment.

Frank seemed surprised. "Then why do it?"

She shrugged. "I don't exactly have a choice now. Contracts and fans and all that."

"I know you made sure you had loopholes. If it makes you so miserable, why not stop?"

"Because it's not completely miserable. I'm just not as happy as I could be."

"Do you ever regret it? Taking the model case?"

"What are you? Some sort of reporter? Tell me the truth Hardy, is Entertainment Tonight paying you for the inside scoop?" Nancy teased.

Frank started to blush lightly. "I'm sorry. I'm prying. It's just that I haven't had a chance to really talk to you in such a long time, and I'm curious about--,"

"Frank, relax, I was joking. I'm not used to talking about this stuff, but if you want to know about it I can. What's with you tonight?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just because I'm not solving mysteries anymore doesn't mean I'm completely oblivious. You're acting different than you used to. Quite frankly, you're acting like you're nervous. Do I make you nervous Frank?"

"You…don't make me nervous per se…it's just that…"

"You know, it's kind of cute." Nancy winked. "But I guess I can take pity on you. You were doing better when you were talking about the case. Finish telling me about those organ smugglers."

Frank obliged and continued the story where he had left off. He then proceeded on to the story of when Joe was nearly roped into a Vegas wedding to a less than artful con, which led to Nancy telling a story from her first time on the Dancing with the Stars Tour.

"So this guy decided that during my waltz would be the best time to propose to his girlfriend. Maks and I don't look at the floor when we dance and I was going backwards at the time. He knelt down and I tripped over his foot. Maks almost caught me, but he didn't quite get a good hold on me. I managed to hurt my wrist pretty badly on the lights near the floor," She held out her left wrist and pushed the sleeve of her shirt up to her elbow. "On the brighter side, the girl did say yes to him."

Frank took her wrist in one hand and gently thumbed at the scars. "Well, I'm glad all of the trouble was worth it. It looks like it hurt."

Nancy shivered lightly at his touch. "It looks worse than it was."

"You always were the tough one."

"There you guys are."

Nancy pulled her wrist out of Frank's loose grip as they both turned to see Joe standing on the deck. "Hey Joe, how was the show?"

"Every minute was action packed. And quite the cliffhanger with you lying at the bottom of that ravine."

"Well, I don't know anything about what's going to happen next so don't expect any spoilers from me." Nancy shook her head with a bright smile. "As far as I know, Avery stays at the bottom of that ravine from here to eternity."

Joe rolled his eyes. "That's not why I came out here. Everyone was wondering where you two were. They were all speculating that you were hooking up in the car or something." Both Nancy and Frank groaned. "Of course, I may have started that rumor."

"Don't worry; I'll remind you never to put him in charge of your publicity campaign."

"Oh Frank you're so hilarious. I can barely contain my amusement." Joe deadpanned. "Actually I came to find you guys because I think it might be a good idea for Nancy to go in and see her dad."

Nancy frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"Your acting job was just a little too realistic and I think it was a little hard for him to see you in some of situations you were in this episode."

Nancy briefly closed her eyes. "I forgot about the attack." She stood. "Frank, I should go talk to him. We'll finish talking later, OK?"

"Sounds good."

Nancy quickly hurried into the house past Joe. Once the door was closed the blond man raised an eyebrow at his brother. "What exactly were you two up to?"

"Just…catching up." Frank shrugged, walking up onto the deck. "We hadn't had a chance to talk yet."

"Catching up? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

"Joe…"

Joe threw up his hands in joking exasperation. His brother never let him have any fun. "I'm just saying the two of you were sitting awfully close to just be catching up. You were holding Little Miss TV Star's hand."

"I wasn't holding her hand."

"Yeah you were. I saw her pull away as soon as I came out."

"OK, maybe I was." Frank crossed his arms over his chest in the hopes that it might convince Joe that the conversation was not meant to continue. "But not like that. I was looking at a scar she has on her wrist."

"Oh. Right then. I guess nothing romantic could ever stem from something as intimate as fingering someone else's scars." Joe rolled his eyes. "Are you naturally this romantically clueless, or are you trying at it to annoy me?"

The door to the house opened and Nancy ducked her head out. "Hey, Bess, Brian, George, and a few of the others are getting ready to leave and then we're going to start a game of Trivial Pursuit if you guys are interested."

"We'll be right in." Joe nodded, and she turned to leave. He then shot a look at his brother. "This conversation isn't over."

* * *

Thoughts? 


	2. In the Still of the Night

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I also am not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or other pop culture entities mentioned in this story.

Author's Notes: Thank you for the reviews. It's always encouraging to get a review, even if I can't get writing again right away. This chapter is more exposition and buildup. The mystery will really start up in the next chapter.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

There are two examples of _italics _in this chapter. One is the first excerpt at the beginning, and the second is a flashback. I'm sorry if this causes any confusion but it looks far more attractive than doing a huge section in bold or underlined.

**Chapter Two—In the Still of the Night**

Excerpt from Today's Times, Article "Drew Dances the Night Away" by Brenda Carlton:

_May 19, 2008_

_While the rest of River Heights was shocked into silence by the apparent murder in the alley way behind night club, Crushed Velvet, it has been reported that Nancy Drew, the star of ABC's mystery drama __**Sub Rosa**__, was inside the club dancing with various men. The young starlet was previously a local hero for her role in allegedly solving numerous high-profile mysteries. This is why it was surprising to learn that she wasn't at the scene of crime attempting to work her way into the investigation. And why wasn't Ms. Drew outside with the rest of the concerned onlookers? The answer may surprise most of the readers. _

_I have received information on Nancy's activities from various sources who wish to remain anonymous. While a young woman was in the alley way was fighting for her life, it has been reported that Nancy Drew was in Crushed Velvet's VIP area, drinking chocolate martinis and Velveteen Twists, the club's signature drink, while dancing rather closely with several unidentified male companions. Has the Hollywood Highlife corrupted another member of society? _

_As someone who considers herself to be one of Nancy Drew's closest friends, I can testify that it has. Before her fame broke, Nancy was always sharing information with me. We would constantly spend time together and even worked together. It was with her help that I was able to prove Buff Bellamy's innocence in the infamous Philadelphia murder trial several years ago. However now that she has moved away from River Heights, she has lost touch with all of her dearest friends, and instead of maintaining a wholesome, monogamous relationship, she has turned to reckless drinking and nameless affairs. While there have been rumors that the men she was cavorting with were old friends, these reports remain unsubstantiated. _

_It is difficult to determine the verity of these reports. When asked about the evening's events, Ms. Drew refused to comment. Also silent was her publicist, who did not acknowledge that the events were in existence. The question that now remains is, "Is Nancy Drew still the hometown hero we want our young girls to look up to? Someone who would rather drink and party uncontrollably than show concern for her fellow citizens?" _

_This reporter thinks not. _

Carson Drew was sitting at the breakfast table with his daughter while Hannah was cleaning the dishes that had been used. The lawyer placed the section of newspaper he had been reading onto the table next to his coffee mug. "Nancy, were you at Crushed Velvet last night?" His tone was questioning, but not entirely disapproving; his daughter was an adult and could choose to go to these places if she so desired. His problem was mainly that he didn't know about it.

"Uh…yeah. I went out with Frank, Joe, George, Bess, and Brian." Nancy replied in a tired voice. "Why?"

It occurred to Carson that despite her appearance at the kitchen table before him, Nancy had been rather quiet and did appear rather fatigued. "Brenda has written a very…entertaining article about you."

"Of course she has." Nancy wasn't all that surprised. She reached over and grabbed the paper, wincing with the movement.

"Oh that girl. What is she writing about now?" Hannah turned around from her place at the sink. She wiped her hands on a dishtowel. "I'm sure all that she wrote about is lies. She's never been good at reporting the truth."

"That may be but she certainly knows how to cover himself to prevent lawsuit."

"Well, I'm sure that if we really tried we could find something."

Nancy, who was reading the article scoffed. "I was dancing with Frank and Joe." She commented. "And I had one of each drink."

"She made it sound as if you were drunk."

"Well, she's always been jealous of Nancy. I hardly think Nancy's success would stop that girl from trying to discredit her." Hannah remarked. "If you ask me--,"

"Oh please." Nancy rolled her eyes at the paper, and then looked up to face her dad. "Brenda's so-called witnesses, are herself. She was at the club last night, she just doesn't want to sound like some desperate paparazzo. Not to mention, she didn't try to ask me anything, and you and I both know that I currently don't have a publicist."

Carson had pretty much guessed all of this, however it was nice to get a confirmation from his daughter. He also was hoping to get the real story; as her father, he did find it important to know what was going on in Nancy's life. "So Brenda's just blowing hot air, as usual."

"Yeah." Nancy ran a hand through her hair. "And other than the fact that she's stretching the truth quite a bit, all of this stuff that she saw happened way before that stuff in the alley." She tossed the paper back onto the table.

"So you did go out to try and help that girl?" Carson tried to clarify.

Nancy shook her head. "I was the girl, dad." She grabbed her own coffee and took a long sip. "As you can see, Brenda embellished a bit. I'm not quite dead."

"What exactly went on last night?"

"Well…"

_Nancy was the first to follow the club's hostess to the upstairs VIP area upon the groups arrival. The rest of the group followed her. They had planned the evening carefully so they would at least arrive at the club with no fanfare. Nancy, and to an extent, Bess and Brian, were accustomed to dealing with the masses of fans and reporters. Frank, Joe, and George were not. Given that it was the brothers' last night in town before their return to Bayport, Nancy was determined that it be fun. A lack of fanfare was relatively necessary for that._

"_This is Maralinda. She'll be your group's server for tonight." The hostess introduced a tan brunette. "Let her know if there's anything that you need."_

"_Thank you." The hostess left and everyone ordered a drink before looking towards each other. "OK boys," Nancy looked at Frank and Joe with a glint in her eye. "This is your night. What do you want to do?"_

_Frank held his hands up. "Don't look at me. Joe's the one whose birthday is in a few days. Why don't we let him decide?"_

_Joe clapped his hands together once, with great energy. "Let's dance." He grabbed Nancy's hand, and before anyone could say another word, brought her out onto the dance floor. Bess followed suit with Brian, while George was already setting her sights on a guy that was sitting on his own on one of the couches near a wall. _

_As the distance between them grew, Frank gestured somewhat awkwardly to one of the empty tables. "I'm gonna grab that table for when the drinks come."_

_Nancy and Joe both nodded before turning their attention to each other. The two danced without talking for a while; they had already eaten dinner at a restaurant that night, and their pent-up energy was looking for release. Nancy let Joe take the lead, as it was far more relaxing. After a few dances, she smiled. He had been leading her through dances that she could recognize. "You know, you're not half bad at this. What's your secret? And don't say Arthur Murray. You my friend, are no Michael Douglas."_

"_And yet you make a lovely Annette Benning." Joe spun Nancy out, and then back in. "Actually, your stint on the show inspired Van and I. We take a lesson every now and then."_

"_Well, I'm very impressed. It really adds to your suave image. Vanessa must have to fight those girls off of you."_

"_Vanessa knows she doesn't have to worry. I always go home to her."_

"_That's sweet."_

"_You know, I'm thinking about asking her to marry me." Joe informed. "We've been living together for a year or so now, but…I think it's time to make it official."_

_Nancy briefly stopped dancing to hug him. "That's great Joe."_

"_Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it."_

_The current song ended and those dancing in the club, clapped for the DJ. Couples started chatting, even though another song started right up. Nancy glanced around the room. Bess and Brian were dancing closely, each with a drink in one hand, and George was leaning against the wall with the guy she had found. Frank was still sitting at the table by himself. "Your brother looks bored." She remarked quietly as they started to dance again._

"_We've only been dancing for..."Joe checked his watch, "oh, wow. Forty minutes. No wonder he's bored."_

"_Well, why doesn't he find someone to talk with? There are plenty of people up here."_

"_Nancy, I'm pretty sure Frank doesn't want to talk to those girls."_

"_Well, he doesn't have to stay up here. He can go down to the main part of the club. I can make sure that they know he's clear to come back up."_

"_He probably won't want to talk to those girls either."_

_Joe's reasoning was lost on Nancy. "Why not?"_

"_For one thing, those girls are not--,"_

"_I'm sure he just needs to loosen up." Nancy cut Joe off, now seeing where he was going. She didn't want to go there, and she had learned how to turn a conversation around. "I'm going to get him to dance for a little while, OK?"_

"_OK, but I don't think--,"_

"_I'm sure you can fend for yourself." Nancy called as she made her way over to the table. When she got there she grabbed onto one of Frank's hands. "OK Frank, enough sitting there doing nothing. You're coming out to dance with me."_

"_I am?" Frank stood, but his feet remained firmly in place. He had no intention of dancing that night._

"_Yes. You need to relax." Nancy informed._

"_Isn't alcohol normally the way to do that?"_

_Nancy shook her head. "That's not very responsible Hardy. Besides, dancing is way more fun." She began to pull him towards the floor again._

"_Nancy…"Frank resisted still. "I'm not exactly the biggest dancer. Its not as relaxing for me as it is for you."_

"_That's because you haven't had a good teacher. Come on." Frank followed her out, somewhat begrudgingly. By the time the two were out on the floor the song was changing to a slow tune. "OK. We can keep this nice and simple." Nancy grinned a little. "We'll start with the classic middle school slow dance." She clasped her hands behind Frank's neck. Ever so slowly, his hands found her waist._

"_So, I take it you're having a good time?" He asked, leaning his head down to her ear so he wouldn't have to shout._

_Nancy nodded. "Yeah. It's been forever since I've been able to go out. The filming schedule was absolutely crazy this year."_

"_You like going out."_

"_Not the going out portion. The dancing, yes. I have to admit that I've gotten slightly addicted. It's all Maks' fault."_

"_I wouldn't go blaming him for your addictions." Frank teased._

"_He introduced it to me."_

"_Sure…sure."_

"_I don't like your tone, Hardy."_

"_You're making me dance. Get used to it."_

_Nancy shook her head at Frank's deadpan. "It's not exactly killing you or anything. You're actually doing pretty good. Here, try this." She led him through some simple steps which he followed with relative ease. "See? This isn't so bad. Now you try leading me."_

_Frank did so, albeit with hesitation. It was doing well until they got to a turn, at which point his elbow collided with her forehead. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry Nancy." He dropped his hold and cupped her face with his hands. "Are you all right?" Despite his concern, Nancy was laughing. "Uh…Nancy?"_

"_I'm fine. I've got a hard head, remember? Your elbow isn't exactly a shovel."_

"_No…but---,"_

"_Why don't we stick with middle-school?" Nancy suggested, saving Frank from further awkwardness. Her arms went back around his neck._

"_That seems a bit safer."_

_The two danced for a bit more before Nancy looked up to him, meeting his eyes. "What about you?"_

"_Uh, my elbow? It's great."_

"_No," Nancy laughed. "I, uh, meant, are you having a good time?"_

"_It's starting to look up."_

"_I'm glad." Nancy placed her head on Frank's shoulder; she wasn't particularly tired, but it seemed like the right thing to do. They stayed that way until George came over, tapping Nancy on the shoulder._

"_Nancy? Sorry to interrupt, but there's a bit of a situation."_

_Nancy shifted her position so she was standing up straight. "What's going on?" Her relaxation left her face and she became all-business._

"_Brenda Carlton is here." George informed in a low voice. "She's standing over by the bar. I only just noticed her, but since it's her it's probably safe to assume that she's been there, and watching you, for a while."_

_Nancy ran a hand over her hair. "Great. Umm…I should probably get out of here. She's likely to twist anything I do into a bad light. And I don't want to drag you guys into the press."_

"_Let's make a plan then."_

"_That door will take you out to the back alley way. If you follow it to the right, you'll be able to go around the block behind the press to where you parked your car." The hostess led Nancy and Joe through the club's storage room to the back exit; the group had chosen to leaven in smaller, staggered, groups to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention, and Nancy was naturally in the first group. "On behalf of Crushed Velvet, I just want to apologize again. We had no intention of allowing the press inside the club without your express permission._

"_It's all right." Nancy nodded. "I'm sure this was just a misunderstanding. I won't be holding it against the club."_

"_Thank you." The hostess removed a cell phone from the waistband of her jeans. "I'm going to go back up and get your friends. You can either wait here or go out if you're ready."_

"_Why don't you go on out?" Joe suggested as the hostess left the storeroom. "I'll stay behind to left the others know what's going on."_

_Nancy placed a hand on the door. "Thanks. I'll see you in a little bit." She pushed the door open and took a step out into the alley way. The door was almost closed when she felt a violent shooting pain in the small of her back. Nancy couldn't prevent the cry of pain as she fell to the ground. A pipe clattered to the pavement as a figure took off down the alleyway._

_Joe pushed himself out the door the moment he heard Nancy's cry. "Nancy?"_

_Nancy propped herself up on one hand and pointed at the fleeing figure. "He attacked me." She spoke through clenched teeth. _

_Joe took off after him without another thought._

_Frank was alone by the time he was exiting the club. He had intended to exit with George, but she had gone back upstairs to retrieve her left behind jacket; he was now exiting alone and she would be leaving with Bess and Brian. He shoved the door open and was instantly confronted with the sight of Nancy, pulling herself into a standing position by a brick wall on violently shaking legs. He rushed forward and gripped her arms to offer support. Upon closer inspection, he saw tears welled in her eyes. "Nancy! What happened?" He eased her to the ground._

"_I was hit in the back with that pipe." Her pain was evident in her voice. "Joe went after him."_

_Frank couldn't help but think of the horrors of back injuries. "You shouldn't be moving." He advised. "We need to call an ambulance."_

"_No." Nancy shook her head. "An ambulance at a nightclub is guaranteed press. I don't want to be tomorrow's headlines."_

"_I don't feel comfortable moving you. You could have spinal chord damage."_

_She sent him a pained look. "Trust me. I can feel everything."_

"_That bad, huh?" Frank grasped one of her hands with both of his._

"_It's not exactly pleasant."_

"_Just, uh…hold my hand and keep breathing." Frank thought for a moment, trying to think of a solution to the predicament. She needed to go to the hospital. He supposed that he could carry her to the car, but that would be rather conspicuous. Anyone who saw him would likely assume that he was kidnapping her. And then it hit him. "Do you think anyone on the police force would be willing to do you a favor?"_

"_Chief McGinnis probably would. Why?"_

"_I have an idea for a diversion."_

"So we had the paramedics bring me out covered by a sheet so no one would know who I was." Nancy explained. "I got back from the hospital about two hours ago."

"You should be in bed." Hannah admonished. "You've suffered a traumatic injury, and were up all night."

"I wanted to see dad before he went to work." Nancy said. "Besides, I'm fine. Nothing's broken except for a few blood vessels and the doctor prescribed me a muscle relaxant and some painkillers. I'll be good as new in a couple of days." This was a partial lie on Nancy's part; she had the prescriptions, but she wasn't going to be good as new in only a couple of days. Her back was severely bruised, down to the bone, and thanks to the broken blood vessels, rather swollen and black and blue. Despite the medication, every movement exacerbated the pain. Just the same, she didn't want her family to worry.

Carson shook his head and gave his daughter a stern look. "I don't care if it's on the couch or in bed, but go lie down. Now. You aren't helping yourself by sitting up." He stood and waited for her to stand as well. When she didn't, he sighed. "Nancy…"

"Dad, I have to call Lucy," her manager, "and tell her about this article. It's going to be a situation if it makes national headlines. I need to actually thank Frank and Joe for helping me out last night, figure out what to get Joe for his birthday, I'm supposed to help Bess work on her wedding plans, and--,"

"None of that is priority to your health." Carson cut her list off. "I will fax the article and a note with what actually happened to Lucy. I imagine she'll contact your lawyer, find out there's nothing that can be done except issue a different statement, and decide that you need to hire a publicist. Thanking the boys can wait, as can buying a birthday present, and I am sure that Bess will understand if you don't help her for a few days while you recuperate. Now, to bed."

By her third day stuck on a tightly monitored bed rest, Nancy was completely bored out of her mind. She had been stuck sleeping and watching Lifetime Movies. Carson and Hannah were keeping her away from phones and her laptop, all to ensure that she was actually resting. In honesty it was nice for about a day, but now Nancy was going crazy. There were only so many hours of sleep that one person could get before simply tapping out.

"Nancy?" Hannah ducked into the living room. "I'm going to the grocery store. Do you need anything?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Nancy sighed.

"All right. I'll be back in about an hour." She placed Nancy's cell phone on the coffee table, just in case anything were to happen.

"OK. I'll see you later."

Nancy waited until she heard the car leave before ever so slowly bringing herself into a sitting position. The length of time she had spent in the same position, combined with the time elapsed since she had taken anything for the pain did not make this movement easy, and she let out a tense breath as she finally made it. Now she was able to reach the cell phone. It didn't take her very long to pick the right speed dial number.

The phone rang three times before it was answered. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call? Shouldn't you be resting?"

"Oh please Frank. I've been resting for two days."

"And how is that working for you?"

"I am so bored."

"Oh. So that's why you're calling me. I'm entertainment to you."

"Yes." Nancy answered bluntly. "Now, regale me with tales of your journey."

"What tales? I slept."

"OK. You're boring too. Put Joe on the phone."

"Sorry, he's down the hall in his apartment with Vanessa. You're stuck with me. Any news on who attacked you?"

"He confessed the next day. He saw an article about the murdered girl in the alley and got real freaked out when he thought he killed me. He was just a kid planning on robbing a waitress or two of there tips. " Nancy sighed. Her somewhat exciting story didn't even have an interesting conclusion.

"Well, it's good to know that you're safe. Joe and I thought we might have to fly back out and offer protection detail."

"Not quite. But I'll be sure to remember that offer."

* * *

Thoughts? As a reminder, the mystery will really start up next chapter, and we'll also really start to get into Nancy's new world as opposed to her old one. 


	3. You Get What You Give

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I also am not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or other pop culture entities mentioned in this story.

Author's notes: Thank you reviewers! I hope everyone has had happy holidays.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional.

Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter Three: You Get What You Give**

Excerpt from WSLY the Sly, Bayport's leading radio station for the 80s, 90s, and Now's morning show:

_July 5__th__, 2008_

"_It's Christmas in July here in Bayport, and what better way to celebrate than with a very special guest. Taking a quick break from her touring schedule with Dancing with the Stars is television star, Nancy Drew. Nancy, welcome to Bayport. How are you?"_

"_I'm doing great. I'm pretty busy with the tour, but I couldn't be happier."_

"_It's always good to hear that. Now the tour is what brings you to Bayport. We've been giving away tickets for this thing all week, and I have to say, people are all over this thing. We don't have enough tickets to keep up with the demand. The buzz around this thing is absolutely huge. What can you tell us about the show?"_

"_Well, there are five celebrities on the tour, myself included. Besides me, there's Joey McIntyre, Joe Lawrence, Albert Reed, and Joe Lawrence's brother Matthew from the latest season. All of us are dancing some of our favorite dances from the past, and we all have several new routines."_

"_That's quite a few good looking men to be around all the time. And you didn't even bring up all the pro dancers. It must be nice hanging around with those guys all the time."_

"_It is, but it's not because of the eye candy that we all get along so well. Besides that, I'm perfectly happy with what I have, so I'm not exactly looking around."_

"_So the rumors __**are**__ true. You're seeing someone."_

"_Now, I didn't say that."_

"_It was implied. And isn't your show always talking about listening to what's being implied?"_

"_All right, all right. You caught me."_

"_OK, Bayport, you heard it hear first. Nancy Drew is off the market. Now Nancy, any details you want to give us about the lucky man?"_

"_Umm...his name is Ben."_

"_No last name?"_

"_I don't see the fun in giving you all the details. If I did that, there wouldn't be any mystery. I am all about the mystery boys."_

"_Just one more hint? Please? What does he do for a living?"_

"_Well, at one time or another, we've done similar work. But that's all you're going to get out of me. I'm here to talk about the tour, not Ben."_

"_OK. We get it. Ben is off limits. So what about the tour did you want to talk about?"_

"_Since you were talking about everyone wanting tickets to the show, now seems like a pretty good time to tell you about the VIP tickets that I have simply burning a hole in my pocket. These tickets are front row, a table right next to the dance floor, but I just can't think of anyone to give them to."_

"_Oh, we can think of a few people who might want them."_

"_I'll tell you what. Since you guys are celebrating Christmas in July, I'll give the tickets to the first caller who can identify my favorite Christmas song."_

"_All right a challenge has been thrown down, ladies and gentlemen. You heard it correctly. If you think you know Nancy Drew's favorite Christmas song, then give us a call at 555-WSLY. That's 555-9759. Nancy, do you have a clue for our listeners? There are an awful lot of Christmas songs out there for them to choose from."_

"_Well...it's not very traditional. And it has some great background music."_

"_OK. The first correct caller gets front row tickets to tonight's performance. Let's start taking some calls."_

Frank Hardy crossed his arms over his chest. The line he was waiting in was entirely too long, and entirely too slow. The fact that the line was so long wasn't entirely surprising. It was a line to see Nancy, and after spending the better part of the recent years seeing her face everywhere Frank had grown accustomed to the fact that she was famous and had fans, although it was still slightly dumfounding to see them congregate in one location. The speed of the line, however, was a point of annoyance to Frank. Why it was taking so long to take a picture and sign something was completely beyond him. A glance at his watch told him that it was pushing eleven-thirty. His quick assessment was that he would have to wait at least another half an hour. This wasn't exactly what he wanted to be doing. Frank wanted to be going home and sleeping.

He wasn't all that tired, but he knew that in all likelihood, he would have to work at some point the next day, even if it was just paperwork and paying bills. If he hadn't already gotten an e-mail from Nancy, specifically requesting to see him after the show, he would have already been on his way home, in order to e-mail her a quick congratulations and go to bed.

As it was, he had to wait in line amidst chattering teenage girls to try and see her. The e-mail had reported that she had something important to tell him, but it had to be done in person. At this point Frank was hoping that actually was something important. Nancy had been vague online, and for all he knew, she just wanted to introduce him to the boyfriend he had heard about on the radio that morning.

Frank sighed. Just thinking about the radio show was enough to make his mood worse. His throat was still sore from nearly choking on his breakfast when he had heard the news. Of course, that surprise was neither here nor there, as long as it wasn't what she was planning on telling him if he ever got to her.

Despite his fears that the line was in fact growing in front of him instead of shrinking, Frank eventually made it to the front of the line. There, he was face to face with Nancy, who despite having changed into jeans and a t-shirt, still had her hair up and heavy stage make-up on.

"And who would you like this made out to?" She reached forward, anticipating a program or something to sign. Instead she met with Frank's hand.

"You were absolutely fantastic tonight." Frank said, pulling her hand so she was closer and kissing her cheek.

"Frank!" Nancy grinned and threw her arms around him. "I'm so glad you made it. But I thought you were going to be waiting in my dressing room? I sent you a pass so that you could get back there."

Frank shook his head. "I haven't gotten any mail from you in the past couple of days."

Nancy thought for a moment before she sighed. "Oh, I must have left in the last hotel room. I was going to FedEx it to you, but things have been so hectic that I must have just left it there. I'm so sorry you had to stand in this line."

"It's all right. It gave me a good chance to catch up on all that tabloid gossip that has no bearing on my life, whatsoever."

"Really? Hear anything good about me?"

"No. They were all more focused on how disappointed they were that Albert wasn't the one doing this meet and greet."

"Really?" Nancy raised an eyebrow.

Frank laughed at the way that she seemed to deflate the tiniest bit. "Relax, I'm only teasing you."

"Ha ha ha." Nancy said dryly, and then glanced past him towards the rest of the line. "I still have a couple of minutes here, but if you want to wait, I can meet you over there." She pointed to corner to the side of where they were standing.

"I'll be there."

"I'm sorry you had to wait so long Frank." Nancy apologized when the finally got backstage to her dressing room. The couple of minutes she had anticipated had turned into 45 when a new wave of fans had appeared to join the line. "If I had known that they were going to show up I would have had someone bring you back here."

"It's fine Nance. I hardly ever get to see you. I can handle a little wait."

"So...how'd you like the show?" Nancy asked, starting to pull her hair down.

Frank shoved his hands into his pockets. "It was nice. I really liked some of the dances." He wasn't going to bring up that his favorite was the rumba she had performed, and how the costume had accentuated the fact that he had never seen her quite so tanned or toned.

"Really? What was your favorite?"

"Probably your waltz." Frank coughed, slightly awkwardly. "So you've been doing this all summer?"

"Pretty much."

"You must be exhausted."

"It's not that bad. I mean... I've gotten used to the activity, so I've gotten pretty good at finding someplace quiet to curl up for a quick nap. And it's easier to sleep on a bus than you would think."

"And to think you were always the one who could never sleep when we were on stakeouts."

"Well, I grew out of that habit when it became essential for survival." Nancy had her mouth open to say more, when there was a quick knock at the door. It opened and a young woman bogged down with various packages ducked in.

"Here's your bag of ice Nancy." The handed over to Nancy, who took it with one hand. "There's been a bit of a change with the schedule. Someone backed out on Regis and Kelly, so instead of spending the night here and then driving up to Connecticut tomorrow, the we're driving to New York tonight so we can help them out, and then going on to the next stop. The buses leave in an hour and a half."

"OK, thanks Sue." Nancy sighed as the woman left, closing the door behind her. Her plans for a night in an actual bed at the hotel, and possibly a quick visit to the rest of the Hardy family had been quickly dashed with that announcement. She placed the ice pack against her lower back with one hand and sat down. Once she had removed her hand she gestured to one of the other chairs. "Sorry about the interruption. Have a seat."

Frank did so. "Thanks. I take it your back is still bothering you from that night at the club, huh?"

Nancy nodded. "I kind of went against the doctor's wishes to get ready for this. It gets pretty sore still."

Frank wanted to chastise her for doing something like that for something as unimportant as a dancing tour, until he realized that both he and Joe had done similar things for cases. "Well...I hope it gets better. It must be bad to dance like that."

"I've gotten used to it."

The silence that followed reminded Frank that she had asked him to meet with her for some reason that he still didn't know about. A quick glance around the room told him that unless that Ben guy was hiding in the miniscule closet, she wasn't planning on introducing them to each other. That was a relief. Still, his curiosity started to get the better of him. "So...you wanted to tell me about something?"

"Right." Nancy scanned the room, until she saw a brown leather messenger bag on the floor next to the rack where her costumes had hung. She spoke as she made her way over to the bag and removed some of it contents. "I want to hire you and Joe."

Frank's eyes widened briefly. He hadn't been expecting that. "Uh...why?"

"Well, first of all, you offered." Several months ago, but an offer was an offer. "And second, I've been getting these notes mixed in with my fan mail." She handed a couple papers over to Frank.

"'I could have given you the world, but you ignored me. You always ignore the ones who really love you.'" Frank read one aloud. He shifted the papers in his hands. "'I loved you, but you were always too busy. You should think about changing.'"

"I wasn't that worried about them until I got the last one." Nancy informed.

Frank made his way to the last note. "'You're still ignoring me, even after I've warned you. A bitch like you doesn't deserve the good life. But maybe I can teach you a lesson.'" He paused before he spoke. "What makes you think these are all from the same person?"

"The back. They all have the same drawing on them."

He flipped the pages over. Sure enough, each had a crude sketch of a dead and broken rose on them. "Have you told anyone about these?"

Nancy shook her head. "I figured it was better to just keep it quiet until I got your opinion. You're the one who took all of those psychology courses in college."

"Actually that was Joe." Frank informed, looking over the notes again.

"Oh." Nancy nearly blushed at her mistake. "Sorry."

If Frank heard her apology, he didn't acknowledge it. "Did these come in envelopes or...?" He trailed off. "I mean, you are hiring us to find out who's sending them right?"

"Right." Nancy nodded. "I figured it might be a good idea to know who this guy is." The sentence was out of her mouth a moment before she realized how stupid she sounded. She also didn't have time to correct herself.

"Yeah, we tend to like our stalkers identified." Frank remarked.

"I wouldn't exactly say he's a stalker, Frank. It's only a couple notes. For all we know he's just some overzealous fan and just needs a reminder that it's a little uncalled for to send notes like that."

"Overzealous fans don't call the people that they're fans of—," Frank was cut off by the ringing of a cell phone.

Nancy apologized briefly before grabbing her phone from the nearby table. "Hey Ben...Yeah, the show went fine...I had to do a meet and greet but I'm back in my dressing room now...oh you haven't heard yet...I accidentally spilled the fact that we're together on the radio show this morning...Are you OK?...That's right, I mean it was bound to happen eventually...Of course, this means we'll have to start going out in public together...No it shouldn't be too big of a deal. They're just going to want pictures. We'll give them a photo op at the game when I'm up there...Oh that reminds me, our schedule changed a little bit and we're performing on Regis and Kelly tomorrow...I'm not sure. I'll call you when I find out more details...OK, I have to go get ready to leave...Talk to you soon...Bye hon."

Frank waited until she had hung up the phone. A brief bit of thinking had let him come to the decision that he would simply act like she hadn't just gotten a phone call from her boyfriend. He coughed once into his hand to break the silence. "So have you only gotten these notes or has there been anything else?" He asked quietly.

"Uh..." Nancy was slightly thrown off when he didn't ask her about the phone call. "It's just been those."

"Then I guess Joe and I will get on this first thing in the morning, I'll call you when we have something." Frank started to stand but was stopped at her question.

"That's it?"

"Unless there's something you're not telling me. I don't see how there's a lot that can be done tonight...or morning as the case may be."

"Well...you don't have the envelopes that you wanted. And I know I haven't done this in a while, but aren't you supposed to ask me if I know of anyone who would send them?"

Frank sighed. This was true. Maybe the call had distracted him a little. "Your comment about it being an overzealous fan made me think that you didn't." He attempted to cover himself. "But to me the writer sounds like someone who knows you and had a relationship with you. So I guess you should tell me about your ex-boyfriends."

"Ned and Mick are the only major ones. Unless you want me to go back further than high school." Nancy informed.

"I doubt it. Um...I know why you and Mick broke up, but you never said why you and Ned broke up."

Nancy shifted her ice pack. "Frank, I don't think that Ned is sending me notes telling me that he's going to teach me a lesson."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, for one thing he's married now."

"And that would prevent him from harboring something against you?"

"Frank I just don't think that he---,"

"Nancy," Frank cut in gently. "You said you wanted to hire me and Joe to look into this. That means we look at all angles. However unlikely you think they are."

Nancy stood in order to start getting her things together. "It's not Ned, Frank. And I'm not going to tell you why we broke up just to prove it to you." She handed over the rest of the items from her bag, the envelopes. "That's everything I've gotten from this guy."

Frank also stood. The conversation was clearly over on Nancy's end, and even if it wasn't, he needed to let her get ready so she could get ready to leave for New York. "Then, like I said. Joe and I will get started on this in the morning and we'll contact you when we know something."

"All right." Nancy relaxed a little and smiled. "Thanks for coming tonight."

"You're welcome."

"And thanks for looking into this for me." She hugged him. "It means a lot to me."

Frank smiled. "Hey, anything for my favorite TV star." After a moment of lingering in each other's arms, he pulled away awkwardly. "I'd better let you get ready to leave. I'll talk to you soon, OK?"

"I'll hold you to that."

"And do me a favor?"

"Anything for my favorite private detective."

"Don't go anywhere alone until we can figure out more about this guy."

"Like I get to go anywhere alone on this thing." Nancy rolled her eyes.

Frank shot her a disapproving look. "You know what I mean. Try to stay with groups during your downtime. Maybe even with one of the security guards."

"I'll handcuff myself to the first one that I encounter."

"This is ridiculous." Frank sighed, turning his TV off after Regis and Kelly had ended. He had been watching to see the dance performance, but somehow had gotten caught up in the show.

Joe looked over from his seat, where he was examining the notes that had been sent to Nancy. "What is?" He didn't wait for Frank's answer before going back to the notes he was taking.

"Nancy's little game that she's playing with telling people about her new boyfriend. She's giving them all these clues and trying to make them figure out. She couldn't possibly just tell people who he is or anything." Frank leaned back on the couch.

"OK, I know you're jealous because you didn't move in on her when you had the chance at her place--,"

"I am not jealous."

"Yeah. Sure."

"I'm not."

"Whatever." Joe shook his head. "We don't really need to know his name. I can almost guarantee that he's not the one who we're looking for, so there's very little point. Besides she'll introduce us eventually."

Frank got up and walked towards his kitchen to get himself a drink. He was halfway there when he turned back around. "She's playing this game with everything now. She wouldn't tell me why she and Ned broke up. I tried to tell her that we had to look into it to look at every angle, but she just insisted that it wasn't him. Even if it's unlikely we should look into him."

"These notes do ring of a jilted ex." Joe nodded.

"Well she won't tell me why they broke up so it's a bit harder for us to know if it could be him, isn't it?"

"Are you a detective or not, Frank? There are other people who know about that breakup. Why don't you call one of them while I finish up with these? I'd start with Bess."

"Good idea." Frank was walking to the phone when it rang. He was at the receiver by the time it had rang once more. "Hello?"

"Frank?"

"Oh, hey Nance. Joe and I were just starting to go over the notes for you." He informed. "We haven't gotten much yet but--,"

"Frank I thought you should know that someone left a little surprise for me on my bus."

_20 minutes earlier_

"Bess, I'm only just getting back to my bus...I just did Regis and Kelly." Nancy was chatting on her phone as she got out of the car that brought everyone back to where the buses had parked. She waved a quick goodbye to the others as she started to walk to her bus. "I'll check my e-mail in a minute but I'm sure whatever dress you want me to wear is fine. And my offer still stands; the man who did my dress for the Emmys had some absolutely gorgeous wedding gowns." Nancy listened to Bess go on for a moment about finding her dress completely on her own, while she made her way to the sitting area of the bus where her laptop was waiting and stopped dead in her tracks.

Strewn across her couch was the teddy bear that she had made at Build-a-Bear after losing a bet with one of the actors on Sub Rosa. Or what was left of it. Its outfit, that of a can-can dancer, had been cut open. It appeared that the same instrument had been used to mutilate the bear extensively; stuffing was coming out of various tears. The head had been completely removed and it, along with the small purple heart of the bear and a piece of paper had been attached to the back of the couch with a knife.

"Bess, I'm going to have to call you back."

Thoughts?


	4. Hanging Tough

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I also am not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or other pop culture entities mentioned in this story.

Author's notes: Thank you reviewers! I'm glad that everyone is enjoying the story so much.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional. Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter Four-Hanging Tough**

Excerpt from People Magazine, article "Mystery Hunk Mystery Solved?":

_July 10__th__, 2008_

_Just days after she broke the news that she was off the market due to a mysterious man known only to the world as 'Ben', Nancy Drew has been seen escorted by not one, but two gorgeous guys. One, who falls under the category of tall dark and handsome, has been spotted guiding her through crowds, always keeping a hand on the small of her back and whispering things in her ear. The other is a boyish, muscular, and sexy blond that the TV star has been seen eating meals and spending time with. Lately, Nancy hasn't been seen without one of these fine specimens of the male species. Is one of them her mysterious boyfriend?_

_What we do know about Ben has all come from the starlet's mouth herself. She claims that at some point they have done similar work and a recent statement revealed that they met through a mutual friend who took it upon themselves to set the two up on a blind date. _

_So which one of her mysterious escorts is the elusive Ben who has stolen one of the most eligible single women off of the market? According to her representative: neither. The rep from Nancy's camp has issued the statement that the men Nancy has recently been spotted with are a security team that the actress has decided to hire after receiving some less-than-friendly fan mail. To quote the representative, "Despite Nancy's past in the business of detective work, she has come to the decision that in order to ensure her safety, and that of those around her, it would be most responsible to hire private guards."_

_Unfortunately, this means that Ben's identity will remain a mystery until further notice._

"OK. It's probably safe to assume that this guy is following you and the tour." Joe spoke to Frank, Nancy, and Bess. They were all seated in Nancy's Massachusetts hotel room. The tour had completed an afternoon performance an hour and a half before, and the group had quickly convened in the hotel room to have a discussion about the current situation with everyone present. It was time that they compiled all of their knowledge and worked out an actual plan instead of their current method of Frank and Joe take turns being attached at the hip to Nancy, preventing any real investigation from being completed. "The recent notes have all been places that mail doesn't get delivered. Which also means he's probably either sneaky, charming, someone who works on the tour, or a combination of those traits."

Frank nodded. "And we know from his notes that he's getting angrier with you. The note with the teddy bear was talking about your betrayal by getting a new boyfriend and continuing to ignore him, and the newest note that was on your dressing room mirror--,"

"She got another note?" Bess interrupted. Until the Hardys had gotten involved she hadn't even known about the letters, and due to being left out she had been slightly snarky with Nancy for a brief amount of time. Just the same, she had flown out to meet the tour, insisting that she wasn't going to leave her friend alone in a time like this and that she could just as easily plan her wedding on the road through phone calls and the internet. She had been filled in for the most part, but her own busy schedule prevented her from getting some of the newer details.

Nancy pulled it out from the pile and handed it over to her friend. The note had been enclosed in a Ziploc baggie since its discovery, in the case that they caught the stalker and would have to bring him to the police. "It was taped to the mirror in my dressing room when I got there this morning."

"'I already told you that you don't deserve what you have, and you go out and get more? I know you're not a dumb whore so you just must not listen.'" Bess paused and looked up with wide eyes. "Nancy, he's talking about how he's going to kill you."

"I know Bess. I read the note too." Nancy nodded.

"Well, shouldn't you be going into hiding or something? If this guy is following you then--,"

Joe placed a hand on Bess to stop her from getting too worked up about the entire thing and shook his head. "We can't do anything drastic yet Bess. So far all this guy has done is leave notes and hurt a teddy bear. He may not even be violent at all, just a little crazy. Right now, either Frank or I are with her at all times, and tour security is around a lot of the time too. Until we know more, there isn't much else that we should do."

"Getting back to what we do know," Frank spoke quickly after his brother, preventing the blond from protesting about their protection philosophy. "We don't have any official suspects, but we're going to have Vanessa look into a person of interest for us because of some initial background information we received."

Nancy rolled her eyes and leaned back onto the couch. A very annoyed look graced her features. "I already told you guys that Ned was not involved in this. He's happily married. I went to the wedding for crying out loud."

"You also broke up with him because he couldn't handle the amount of time that you spent on work. First it was mystery solving and then it was dancing and acting. He wanted more time with you, and thought that you were ignoring him for work. Does that sound familiar at all to you?" Frank asked.

"Bess, could you have made it look worse for him? Why didn't you just tell them about the fight he and I had after I had to give that statement about my most romantic moment and the moment that I chose wasn't one with him? That sure got him going on about ignoring him and all that he did for me."

Bess sighed and shot her friend a look. "Nancy, you have to admit, you're not the most objective person to be making the judgments on this one."

Nancy thought for a moment. She knew that Ned wasn't the one leaving her notes. Apparently she wasn't going to be able to convince the others of this. "Fine. Investigate him. Embarrass yourselves. But when I'm right you had better apologize to him."

"Again, getting back to the definite facts that we have," Joe stepped in, ready to play peacemaker. He had noticed the sort of nervous energy between Frank and Nancy and he was sure that at some point it was going to erupt into something, whether it be a large fight, or something more pleasant. Either way, he wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to be around when it happened, and was doing his best to keep things calm between everyone. "We don't have a lot of definite facts. But we need to be able to do a lot of footwork while maintaining your safety. I think our best course of action would be to have one of us established as your bodyguard and the other one can do the majority of the investigation. It won't be exactly balanced or anything, but this way one person can become accustomed to your routine and it will be easier to notice if someone is out of place."

"That sounds fine." There was a knock on the door before Nancy or anyone else could say anything.

"I'll get it." Frank volunteered. As he made his way to the door, Joe got up out of his seat and positioned himself slightly in front of Nancy, just in case. When Frank got to the door, he first peered out of the peephole. He was assaulted by the image of sweater-clad chest. Whoever the caller was, he was tall. Cautiously, he opened the door just enough so that he could step between the door and the door frame.

The man standing before him was taller than he was. Frank guessed that he was probably at least six three. He was well toned, with slightly spiked black hair and what would be described as well-defined handsome features that were accentuated by blue eyes.

"Uh, I'm looking for Nancy Drew? She told me that she was staying here?" He spoke in a deep voice and tried to peer into the room past Frank.

"Who are you?" Frank moved to keep his view blocked.

"I'm--,"

"Let him in, Frank." Nancy had pushed past Joe and walked up to the door, where, despite Frank's efforts she opened the door. She stretched up on her tiptoes and planted a quick kiss on the newcomer's lips. Then she pulled him into the room and closed the door behind them. "Guys, this is Ben." She placed her arm around his waist, and his went across her shoulders. "Ben, these are my friends Frank, and Joe." He shook hands with both of them. "They're private detectives that I've hired to look into my note problem. And you've already met Bess a couple times."

Ben waved to Bess, who hadn't left her place on the couch. "Nice to see you again. And it's nice to meet the two of you." He added, addressing the Hardys. "I'm glad that someone's around to look out for Nancy."

"Frank and Joe have always had my back." Nancy nodded as she turned to face him. "But what are you doing here? Don't you have to be getting ready for the game?"

"I don't have to be at the stadium for warm-up until five." Ben shook his head. "I thought that I could swing by here and drop off your tickets. I have four prime seats for you up in the VIP area."

"I thought I told you to just get the seats that you could."

"And I told you that I could get any seats that I wanted."

Joe quickly raised and lowered his hand to catch their attention. "Not to sound stupid or anything, but exactly what game are we talking about?"

"Ben is the new breakout star with the New England Revolution." Bess explained. "He's taking soccer by storm. They're saying between him and Beckham they might actually be able to get it to be a mainstream pro sport here."

Ben smiled and shook his head. "Bess, no one can make people like a sport that they don't want to like. But I am going to try my hardest."

Frank stood up straighter and crossed his arms over his chest. Now that he knew this was the mysterious Ben, he was eyeing him carefully. It figured that Nancy would be going out with a star athlete. Somehow, it just seemed to fit with her new life.

"Well, come on and have a seat." Nancy urged, leading him into the sitting area of the room. "We were just putting this stuff away." She gathered up the papers and notes that had been accumulating on the coffee table and stuffed them into the folder that they had come in as she told the small lie. The boys followed and retook their seats.

"I can't stay very long." Ben informed as he sat down where Nancy had been on the couch. Nancy sat next to him, curling her feet under herself and maintaining a hold on one of his hands. "How'd your show go today?"

"There were a couple minor mishaps with the music. But it was more comical than anything else."

**NDHB**

"Frank, now might be a good time to chill out." Joe advised in a hushed tone. Nancy was at the door of the hotel room, saying her goodbye to Ben in a slightly more private setting. Joe, who had kept an eye on his brother throughout the whole encounter, wanted to continue his peacemaker status by ensuring that Frank wasn't about to pick a fight about Nancy's choice of boyfriend.

"I'm perfectly relaxed."

Joe rolled his eyes. "Then tell that to your hand. It's a little busy trying to squeeze the life out of the armrest."

Frank glanced down and then quickly moved his hand from the armrest of the chair. "Not a word." He muttered. His attempt to sound threatening was counteracted by his blushing.

"Frank's jealous?" Bess whispered excitedly. "That's so--,"

"I'm not jealous." Frank cut her off quickly. "I'm just...wary of any new people showing up. Nancy's safety is the utmost concern right now."

"That is so cute." Bess finished her statement anyways.

"What's so cute?" Nancy asked. The group became aware that Ben was gone and she had returned. She looked at all of them. They were sharing semi-nervous glances. "Uh, guys? What's so cute?"

Joe had a slight smirk on his face when he finally answered. "Frank was just talking about how he's going to make a trip to Build-a-Bear so he could replace the bear that your stalker," he ignored Nancy's statement that she 'still wasn't convinced that it was a stalker,' "ruined."

"Frank, you really don't have to do that." Nancy smiled. "But thanks so much for thinking of me."

Frank smiled tightly. "Anytime." He then shot off a quick glare to Joe. Even is she had said he didn't have to do it, Frank knew that now that the idea had been put out into the open it, he really should go and make a bear for her. He was slightly less than pleased with this idea. He had gone to Build-a-Bear once or twice for a cousin. Some of the people that worked there were scary.

Nancy reclaimed her seat once more. "Anyway, sorry about the interruption. Where were we?"

"I think Frank was about to volunteer to do the bodyguard thing while Joe investigates." When Frank looked at her she gave him her best innocent look, but the moment he turned away she winked at Joe. He flashed her a quick thumbs up.

Again, the notion was out there, and he couldn't take it back. At least this was had some good parts to it. "Right." Frank nodded. "That's exactly what I was going to do."

"That's great. Is there anything else, or have we exhausted the resources that we currently have?"

"That's pretty much all we have."

"OK then." Nancy glanced down at the sweats she was wearing. "I have to get changed for the game."

"And I have some calls to make." Bess informed, pulling out her cell phone.

Joe shrugged. "I guess that leaves us to watch TV, huh Frank?"

**NDHB**

Frank resisted the urge to say anything while he watched Nancy and Ben smile, hug, and otherwise ham it up for the cameras. Even though he found it completely unnecessary, the tiniest part of him knew that they were doing it to satisfy the media, not simply to annoy him. So instead of saying anything he simply clenched his fist tightly. Even if they were only being sickeningly sweet for the cameras, he still thought there was something off about Ben that he couldn't quite place. Until he could, he was going to watch the two very closely. It wasn't that he was jealous; he had been hired as Nancy's bodyguard, and watching them was definitely a fulfillment of that job.

"Guys, you might want to take a look at this."

Frank glanced over at Bess. Joe stepped over from his place on Frank's other side. "What is it?"

Bess was holding Nancy's cell phone in one hand. She had taken it when Nancy had gone to go see Ben so there wouldn't be interruptions during the photo-op. She was looking down at something that neither of the Hardys could see on the small screen, but her face had gone sheet white. "Nancy just got an e-mail."

"What does it say?" Frank asked as Joe took the phone out of the shaken girl's hand.

"Nothing. It was just pictures."

Joe nodded in confirmation. It was in fact only pictures. But he doubted that they were pictures that Nancy had been handing out for fun and laughs. "I don't think Nancy's going to like this." Frank held his hand out so he could see the offending pictures. Joe pulled it slightly further away. "And I'm not sure that I should let you see these."

"Joe!"

"Only if you promise not to go flying off the handle." Joe warned.

"I am not the one with the temper, Joe."

"OK. But remember, there are a lot of reporters over there, and if you make a scene, I'm pretty sure it's going to take more than one trip to Build-A-Bear to make Nancy like you again."

Frank grabbed the phone from his brother and began to scan over the e-mail. He was met with images of Nancy, changing, showering, and otherwise hanging around. He knew that the location that the photos were taken wasn't her current hotel room. Surprisingly enough, that did little to make him feel better. He quickly handed the phone back over, in order to prevent himself from destroying it. "Somebody get Nancy. She shouldn't be in public more than she absolutely has to be."

"Because her private life is apparently so secure." Bess commented quietly.

It was still loud enough that Frank heard her, and he turned to walk away, presumably to someplace quieter and less crowded. Joe took off after him, just to ensure that he didn't do anything stupid.

"See, that was good Frank. You didn't destroy anything, and you didn't yell anything. You handled that very well."

Frank didn't respond verbally to Joe's words. Instead he kicked the first wall that he came across. It happened to be cement. "Fuck!"

"See, that wasn't as smart. You're still angry and your foot hurts."

"Joe!"

"OK, OK. I'm not helping. I know." Joe held his hands up in defeat. "Just do us all a favor, and don't freak out around Nancy. These will probably freak her out enough for all of us."

**NDHB**

"They were taken while I was in my apartment in LA." Nancy informed calmly. She had looked at the pictures right before they had gotten back to the hotel. Everyone had been reluctant to show them to her. She knew why now, but wasn't going to let it get in the way of things. Now they were on their way back up to her room. "Judging by the length of my hair, I'd say it was while ago. We were probably still filming on Sub Rosa."

Joe nodded, taking the information in. He was slightly surprised by her reaction, but wasn't going to question someone being calm. "So he's probably been watching you for a while. That kind of enforces the whole, he knows you thing."

"Don't you close your curtains?" Frank already knew the answer to his question. The pictures were rather obviously taken through a window.

"I'm on the top floor of the tallest building around. I didn't think I needed to."

"Well, you need to."

"Funnily enough, I caught that."

The group stepped into an elevator. The doors were closed and they were on their way up before anyone took the initiative to speak again. Not all that surprisingly, it was Nancy who spoke up. "At least we can trace the e-mail address and get a better clue about this guy."

"From what I can tell it's a free account which means that--,"

"Even if it is a free account which means he probably filled it out with lies, everything about him could be a clue." Nancy cut off Frank's mini-lecture. "If he's smart, he probably knows that we'll plan on tracing the account. He might intentionally have left something for us to find."

Joe ruffled her hair playfully. "Are you sure you went actress on us Nance? I think there's still some detective in there."

"There is." Nancy assured. "It's just hidden under layers of spray tan and press releases." She yawned as the elevator doors dinged open and the group stepped out. "I'm pretty tired. Why don't you guys go on to your rooms? I'm just going to head into bed."

"Someone needs to make sure that nothing has gone on while we were gone." Frank shook his head.

"All right. Why doesn't Frank do a little reconnaissance mission in my room to make sure that I'm safe and the rest of you guys go on to your rooms?" Nancy amended with a small smile.

Everyone complied and went their separate ways, while Frank and Nancy made their way to her room. Once at the door, Frank insisted on being the one to open it and then placed Nancy in the entryway. "Stay here, until I've checked the place. And yell if anything happens."

Nancy just nodded and smiled. She wasn't thrilled that Frank was treating her like a child, but in a way it was sweet. And he had done some other nice things for her that day, accusing Ned aside, so she was willing to ignore it. She waited semi-patiently by the door while Frank did his search of the room. After three or four minutes he was back in front of her.

"Everything looks fine." He announced.

"Thank you for looking. Did you get under the bed? I heard the boogeyman likes to hang out under there."

"Yeah. I told him to head over to Joe's bed."

"Aww...you're the best."

Frank smiled. He waited for a moment and then he traded his smile for a look of concern. "So how are you holding up?"

"I'm great." Nancy said quickly. "I mean, why should some pictures scare me? I've faced explosives and big guys with bigger guns before. Besides, I've got a big, strapping man like you around to protect me."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Frank brushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, his hand lingering slightly longer than necessary. He then removed it quickly, coughing. "I guess I'll let you get some rest. I'll meet you here in the morning to head out to the bus?"

"Sounds good." Nancy opened the door for him, shaking her head a couple of times to clear it. "Good night."

"Good night."

Nancy watched as Frank walked down the hallway to his room, before she closed the door to her own. She then let herself fall backwards so her back was planted firmly against the door. Nancy closed her eyes and sighed heavily before she finally let herself express the fear that she had felt when she had seen the pictures. Her hands started to shake.

**Thoughts?**


	5. All Shook Up

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I also am not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or other pop culture entities mentioned in this story.

Author's notes: Thank you reviewers! I'm glad that everyone is enjoying the story so much.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional. Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter Five-All Shook Up**

Excerpt from Nancy Drew's Blog:

_September 9, 2008_

_OK, so a lot of rumors have been going around about me lately, and I thought that I would clear some of them up for everyone, considering the speculation is just going to continue if I don't. So here's what is true, and what is false._

_**Ben and I have broken up because he cheated with one of the models that appear with him in his ad campaigns for all of his various endorsements. **__This rumor is absolutely false. Ben is an absolutely wonderful, and committed man, who would never do anything to hurt me. He has been seen with these models because they work together and spend time together when they are filming. There is nothing but friendship between him and these girls._

_**I am working on recording an album. **__Trust me when I tell you this. You don't want to hear me sing. I'm rather tone deaf, and all of the editing in the world can't fix that. I'm staying far away from the music industry. The pictures of me seen entering and leaving a recording studio are from when I was visiting a friend._

_**I will be participating in the All Star season of Dancing with the Stars.**__ This one is actually true. I loved my time on my season of Dancing with the Stars, and on the tours, and I'm training now for the premiere of the show in two weeks. Between working with a different partner every week, and the other surprises that they have in store for us, this is bound to be an exciting experiment._

_**I have not been performing my own stunts on Sub Rosa because I am pregnant.**__ False. While it is true that I'm not performing my own stunts anymore, it's not because I'm pregnant. I had a back injury at the beginning of the summer, and it hasn't completely healed yet. Until it does, I can't do any stunt work. _

_**Sub Rosa has been cancelled.**_ _Unfortunately, I have to confirm this rumor. Despite the passion that everyone working on the show has for it, the network has decided that it has higher hopes for its new lineup of shows, and there were so many shows that something had to be cut. Unfortunately, Sub Rosa fell short of their ratings bar, and it was one of the shows that were given the boot. The good news is that the network was kind enough to give us four episodes for us to wrap everything up, and the writing is absolutely phenomenal. Hopefully you won't be disappointed with what we give you._

_So those were the major things that were going around that I wanted to clear up. Some of them I'm glad to deny and some of them I wish that I could deny. After Dancing with the Stars I'll have some more time on my hands, and I'm already thinking about what I'll be doing with myself. Thanks for taking the time to read the truth about all of these things, and I hope that all of you continue to be so wonderful._

_Nancy Drew_

_Safety Tip of the Week: After you are done dealing with it, shred any mail that could have personal information on it. Whole documents and envelopes are easy targets for identity theft._

Nancy Drew stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom at the dance studio were she was about to start working on her first routine for the upcoming first show. She had already pulled her hair up into a tight ponytail, and was now frowning at the dark circles under her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well at all, not that she was about to admit it to anyone. Her stalker had continued to send her notes, and invade her space despite various security measures, and they still had yet to make any progress. If she was being truthful she would have to admit that she was alarmed by all of the threats, and that the fright was certainly affecting her negatively.

But Nancy didn't want to be truthful. She could remember the days when she had thrived for threats; while they were scary, they meant that she was on the right path. Admitting that she was scared was like admitting that she had changed, and Nancy didn't want to admit that she had changed. As much as she enjoyed her new life at times, she couldn't help but want to relive her detective days.

The brothers, however, were insistent that she stay out of the actual investigation, much to her dismay. They claimed that it was simply too dangerous, and that it would lead to publicity that she didn't need, so instead Nancy was left giving input during the little conferences the brothers had, if they even held them when she wasn't working; sometimes she got the feeling that they weren't that interested in listening to her thoughts anymore.

Ned was the primary example that she had of this. His job required that he took a lot of business trips, so he could never be quite pinpointed down when an incident occurred to clear his name. The boys continued to suspect him, no matter how much Nancy protested.

At the very least, they had accepted Ben, no matter how begrudgingly, as someone who cared about Nancy and wasn't out to get her. And thankfully, they managed to get along, a blessing as Frank was never far away from them, even when they were on dates.

Nancy took another look at the circles under her eyes and grimaced. She already had a layer of concealer on that she had applied at her apartment, but it clearly wasn't enough. "Bess, do have any concealer with you?"

Bess had driven in to the studio with Nancy to ensure that some system, whether it be an alarm clock or a person, was in place to get Nancy out of the dance studio and to the film studio in time to start work on the last episode of Sub Rosa. "Uh... I think so." She rifled through her purse for a moment before she pulled out a compact and handed it over. "You've been going through a lot of that stuff lately. You're like...a walking advertisement for Cover Girl."

"I know." Nancy sighed, starting to apply the makeup. "I've just been stressed lately with the show ending."

Bess' eyes lit up. "Maybe that's what you can do. Model for Cover Girl. I bet we could get you a contract, you being the all-American girl and all." She laughed. "But seriously Nance, what are you going to do now that the show's over?"

"I don't know." Nancy shrugged. "I have some scripts to look over."

"Just make sure you're thinking about it. I mean you're doing the dancing thing again so you don't have to rush to make a decision or anything, but...you do want to keep your name out there."

"Don't worry Bess. I'm not going to fade into oblivion any time soon." Nancy handed the compact over to her friend. She had been thinking about her upcoming decision extensively since receiving the news that Sub Rosa had been cancelled, and she did have a couple ideas of what she might do. She just hadn't come to any official decisions yet.

Bess glanced down at her watch. "Oh! You have to get up to the studio. You have three hours before you have to leave to get on set, but I'll make sure someone gets you guys to stop in time."

"You're the best."

"Say hi to Derek for me."

Nancy rolled her eyes. Despite her relationship with Brian, Bess had a bit of a crush on Derek Hough, the professional dancer that Nancy was slated to first work with on the All Star season. "I'll let him know you're thinking of him."

**NDHB**

Nancy had been retrieved from the dance studio by Frank at the end of her three hour practice, and the duo was exiting the studio to get to her car. She was a little sweaty after so much exercise, but she had plans to grab a quick shower on the set.

"How was your practice?" Frank asked as they started down the staircase that led to the door.

"It was fun." Nancy took a sip of water. "A little busy though. I'm actually learning a couple of routines right now."

"What dances?"

"One is a Paso Doble for the premier of the show. The other is a rumba. Derek's going to teach it to me, and then when they tell me to, I'm going to have to find a partner and teach it to them."

"Wow." Frank let out a low whistle. He pushed the door open and let Nancy through first.

Nancy nodded, and the sunlight glinted on her hair. "Yeah. They've upped the difficulty a bit this time around."

"No kidding." When they reached Nancy's car, a navy convertible, only slightly more conservative than her ever treasured Mustang, Frank reached into his pocket for the keys. "Do you want to drive, or should I?"

"I will." Nancy caught the keys with ease as they were tossed to her. She tossed her bag into the backseat. Once the two were on the road, things got quiet. They had exhausted the safe topic of talking about practice, Frank knew better than to bring up her cancelled show, and Nancy knew better than to bring up the case. They had had a relatively quiet week with only one note showing up, and she just knew that if it was brought up then her week would be jinxed.

They were stuck thick traffic when Frank spoke up. "So...there was a marathon on VH1 last night."

"Don't tell me you watched a Top Model marathon Frank." Nancy shook her head. "I thought I could still respect you."

"You were the one that was on the show." He pointed out. "Besides, I couldn't sleep, and it was either that or infomercials for Easy Off Bam! and Yoga Booty Ballet."

Nancy rolled her eyes, even though he almost had a point. Still, modeling, however incognito it had been at the time hadn't been the high point of her life. "I would have gone with the yoga."

"I only caught a couple episodes, since it turns out that watching wannabe models be catty with each other is a great way to bore yourself to sleep, but I did manage to see the acting episode."

"Which photo shoot was that?"

"The one where you guys were doing each other's most romantic moments."

Nancy remembered it very quickly after that and she almost started to blush. "Oh."

"You chose the cabin. After the avalanche."

"Yeah. I...well...I figured I could at least tell the truth about that. I mean, I obviously didn't tell them what we were doing in the cabin but, everything after that..."

Frank knew that it wasn't exactly his business to ask his next question. Given the awkwardness that already was surrounding the conversation due to the fact that they were talking about things that weren't really supposed to have happened, he knew that he shouldn't be bringing up the why of it all. But he couldn't help himself, and the more that he thought about it, the more that he decided he did have some business in asking; after all, he had been a part of the original moment. "So...that's really your most romantic moment?"

"Yeah. I mean... it was our first kiss. I know that we didn't end up together or anything, but..." Nancy turned so she was facing Frank. "I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't the first thing I think of when someone mentions you."

"Nancy, I—," Frank's words were cut off by the loud blaring of several car horns. "I, uh, think we're moving again."

"Right." Nancy turned her attention back to the road and began to drive again. The pair was instantly back into their ways of awkward silence. The conversation had caused tension to mount up quickly, and neither of them really felt the need to bring more into the car. As a matter of fact, both occupants of the vehicle were quite intent on not saying anything until they got to the studio. That was until Nancy noticed two things; one was that she was fighting to steer the car. The other was that despite taking her foot off of the gas pedal and putting it onto the brake, the car continued to accelerate. "Uh...Frank?" She gripped the wheel tighter, to put more strength into her own work. "I don't think I'm controlling the car anymore."

Frank frowned and looked over. He had noticed that Nancy's driving had gotten faster, and jerkier. "What is it?"

"I think that the steering is gone. It keeps drifting towards oncoming traffic."

"Just take a deep breath and stay calm." Frank instructed, noticing the nervous pitch in Nancy's voice. This news didn't exactly send waves of relaxation over him, but he knew that the easiest way out of any situation was to stay calm. "We'll just slow down, pull over, and see what's wrong." He eyed the traffic ahead of their vehicle carefully; they were gaining on the other vehicles.

"That plan would probably go a lot easier if the breaks were working."

"OK...umm...keep doing your best to avoid the other cars." Frank ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of a solution to the problem. He wasn't seeing one immediately. Without steering or brakes, they couldn't do much of anything. "Think Hardy, think."

Nancy was doing her best to maintain the car's line enough not to hit anyone. As the time went on and she got no closer to stopping the car, she had near misses with several cars. She was sure that someone had called the police on her by now. She briefly thought of having Frank take out his cell phone and calling them himself. Surely they would know something to do...of course what could they really do over the phone?

She clenched her jaw as the pull on the wheel got stronger. She doubted that she was going to keep her control much longer. "You know, any idea would be helpful right about now."

"I'm thinking! It's not that easy. With no steering or brakes there are only so many options and we can--," Frank watched as the wheel turned roughly. Nancy's hands were forced away from its surface and the car turned sharply to the left, directly into the path of an eighteen-wheeled truck.

Horns began to blare and the road turned into complete and utter chaos. Frank fought against the momentum of the now spinning car to do the only thing he could think of. He grabbed onto the steering wheel and turned it with as much strength as he could muster. The speeding convertible cut through the traffic, away from the path of the truck. When Frank saw that they were now headed directly for the post of a street light, he did his best to stay on the path, deciding that the impact would stop the car.

He heard Nancy scream directly before the collision. There was a great crunching noise and they were both thrown forward into their seat belts as the airbags deployed, and then started to deflate.

The moments after the accident were deathly silent to Nancy except for the blood that she could hear rushing in her ears. There was no doubt in her mind that it had been no accident and that whoever was behind the notes and pictures she was receiving had done something to alter her car while she was in the studio. She could hardly comprehend it. Not only had it nearly killed her and Frank, but all of the civilians out driving could have been injured, or worse.

As her breathing started to slow, she made the decision that she had to take control of the situation whether the Hardy's, her agent, or anyone else, liked it or not.

"Nancy? Nancy! Are you all right?"

Nancy nodded slowly. "I will be."

**NDHB**

Two days after the accident, and Frank was in the parking lot of the studio where Sub Rosa was filmed with Nancy. They were supposed to be getting over to her rental car but she had gotten caught up with a group of cast and crew members, and all were sharing teary memories. Frank wouldn't have minded very much, except he didn't like all the time spent in the open.

The police had confirmed that someone had modified Nancy's car, so they could control it from a distance. The fact that her stalker had progressed from just notes and pictures to an actual attack had unnerved him, and he, the police, and Joe had agreed, the less time spent in direct public and open areas, the better. They had been sticking to that plan pretty well, except for now. Sub Rosa's last episode had finished filming, and everyone was talking now, having decided that the formal wrap party would be a happy occasion and not a sad one. This left Frank, watching everything closely with his arms folded over his chest.

Frank's eye caught an approaching figure, walking over from the other end of the parking lot. He could tell it was a man, but it wasn't until he got much closer that Frank could recognize the man as the ever elusive, Ned Nickerson.

"Ned," He walked over and intercepted Ned before he got any closer to Nancy and the group. "I haven't seen you in a long time. What are you doing here?"

"Frank." Ned greeted with a smile. "I read somewhere that you were Nancy's bodyguard now. That must be something, huh? Taking care of a spitfire like her all of the time. I bet you earn your money."

Frank wasn't entirely sure how to respond to a comment like that, but he did know that Ned hadn't answered his question, at all. "What brings you here, Ned?"

"Oh, some executives at this studio are clients of the insurance firm that I work for, and I was sent out here to work with them on some claims." Ned explained. "I heard about Nancy's show being cancelled and since I was already at the lot I figured that I would stop by and offer my condolences. She is right over there, right?"

Frank hesitated. He didn't want to let Ned over to Nancy. Unfortunately, despite his own suspicions of the man, he knew he had no reason not to. He sighed, and decided to go along with Nancy and give Ned the benefit of the doubt. "Yeah. She's right over there."

"Thanks. Maybe we can talk later." Ned gave Frank a quick pat on the shoulder before walking away and towards Nancy.

Frank watched Ned closely as he reached Nancy. He saw Nancy smile, hug, and kiss her ex's cheek as a greeting, and he then made the executive decision to go closer so he could hear what was going on. The first thing that he heard was Ned give Nancy the same spiel about being in town for work. Frank started to relax a little.

"I'm so glad that you decided to come." Nancy said, smiling. "I haven't seen you in so long."

"And whose fault is that?" Frank tensed right back up as Ned's tone changed to a much more serious and hostile one. "I warned you Nancy."

Frank barely saw the glint of the sun on the barrel before he heard the gunshot and saw Nancy fall to the ground. He ran forward and tackled Ned without a second thought.

**NDHB**

Thoughts? Other than the fact that I am slightly evil?


	6. It Ends Tonight

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I also am not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or other pop culture entities mentioned in this story.

Author's notes: Thank you reviewers! I'm glad that everyone is enjoying the story so much. It is also very interesting to see the various theories about what exactly is going on that people can come up with. I love to know what people are thinking.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional. Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter Six-It Ends Tonight**

Excerpt from E! News Online, article "Shooting at the Sub Rosa Set":

_September 11, 2008_

_Early this afternoon there were reports of a shooting in parking lot at the set of the recently cancelled drama "Sub Rosa". It has been reported that one person was wounded by the gunman; our sources have learned that the reported victim is non other than the show's star, Nancy Drew._

_The exact reports about what happened are still extremely vague, but we do know that various cast and crew members were gathered in the parking lot after the filming of the last episode of the series had wrapped, when the gunman approached the group and managed to shoot Nancy. He was disarmed and subdued by Nancy's bodyguard, Frank Hardy before he could harm anyone else._

_Nancy's publicist has most recently released a statement saying that the actress is fine and already out of the hospital, having only received a superficial wound to the forearm, a report that differs from eyewitness accounts who claim the wound was a direct hit to her chest. Nancy's representative attributed the differences to the confusion caused by the activity during the shooting. _

_The identity of the shooter and his connection to Nancy are still unknown. We will post more details on the incident as they become available._

Nancy entered her apartment with Frank close at her heels. It was pushing midnight, and despite the fact that the shooting incident had occurred at one in the afternoon, it was the first time that they were alone and could speak freely since it had occurred. They had finally been allowed to leave their various interviews only twenty minutes previous to their arrival. When Nancy heard the door close, she sighed and dropped her purse on the entryway table. "Do me a favor and don't," she intoned as she shrugged out of her leather jacket, leaving her in her jeans and her torn and stained tank top.

"Don't what?" Frank asked tiredly.

"Tell me just how stupid I was. I've already sat through some very long lectures by the police, my father, my agent, my publicist...hell, even Ben and Ned got in on the action." Nancy answered.

"Gee, I wonder why they would possibly be lecturing you."

"Look," Nancy turned around. "I know that this wasn't exactly the most brilliant plan that I've ever had--,"

"You asked Ned to come here and shoot you." Frank cut her off. "Exactly what part of that plan _did_ seem like a good idea to you?"

"It's not like we were making these great strides in catching whoever _is_ stalking me and trying to kill me. I thought that he might come out if he thought that someone else was moving in on his territory."

"So you call up a suspect and say, 'hey, wanna come out to LA to shoot me?'"

"Ned was never a suspect, for me. I asked him because I knew that you never stopped suspecting him, because you never listened, and I knew that your reaction would be real and believable. I gave him the stage gun, and the blanks, and I loaded myself up with pouches of fake blood. It clearly didn't work, but at least...Frank, I don't want to see anyone get hurt because this guy is after me."

Frank held up a hand. "I know I'm gonna regret asking this, but what if Ned had been the guy? He would have killed you, and probably a lot of other people before he was caught."

"Sounds kind of like what nearly happened with my car the other day, doesn't it?"

"Nance," Frank's tone softened slightly, and he took a step towards his friend. "I know that this must be a little hard for you to deal with, but you risked a lot of--,"

"A little hard?" Nancy shook her head incredulously. "What do you know, Frank? You don't know how Derek had to talk me down from a panic attack when I got the latest text message the other day, or how I'm not sleeping well, even with you right in the guest room. Yeah...I guess that sounds a little hard. I don't want to hear about what you know, because you know nothing."

"Really? I know that when I saw Ned pull out that gun and shoot you, my heart was in my throat, and all I could think about was our conversation in the car. And now, to know that you planned all of that...I can't believe that--,"

"I saw an opportunity and I took it."

"You were reckless."

"At least I was trying."

The two engaged in a stare down after the heated exchange. Nancy was mulling over what Frank had revealed in his retorts, trying to decide if she should be angry that he chose that moment for such a disclosure or to use it as a way to stop the fight. Frank was realizing that he had, in fact, said all of that. At the same time he was completely losing sight of the fact that they were arguing or what they were arguing about, when he remembered the feeling seeing her get shot, however fake the shooting may have been, had evoked. Frank was familiar with the feeling; he felt it nearly every time he watched her show. Then he turned to the more pleasant feeling he got whenever he remembered, or realized, that she was OK, and he was overwhelmed. "Nancy..."

"Frank..."

Nancy and Frank closed the distance between themselves completely. There was little hesitation between the two before their lips crashed together and their arms entangled around each other's bodies. It wasn't long before they were moving. First they hit the table, knocking Nancy's bag and jacket to the floor, and then it was a sort of tumble and fumble against the wall down the hallway towards Nancy's bedroom, dropping clothing along the way.

**NDHB**

Nancy was drifting to sleep, halfway underneath the linens of her bed, but was jerked awake when her companion sat up. "Frank you can stay here. You don't have to go to the guestroom." She murmured, settling a bit more into the bed.

"Yeah I do." Frank answered tersely.

Nancy rolled over, frowning. She could see Frank hunting for his clothes and starting to get dressed. "What's wrong?"

"This shouldn't have happened."

"What—you mean just now?" Nancy sat up, holding the sheet against her chest with one hand. "The you getting up thing? I agree. That shouldn't have happened."

"Us sleeping together shouldn't have happened." Frank corrected.

"I thought it went pretty well."

"It shouldn't have happened."

"Why not?"

"You slept with him." Frank, now halfway dressed in his jeans, started down the hallway towards the guestroom after Nancy's question.

Nancy frowned and started after him, taking the sheet with her and wrapping it around herself. "Frank, you can't tell me that you thought I was still a virgin. I'm twenty-four years old. And I dated Ned for five years." Frank didn't answer, which annoyed Nancy to no end. "God, I never pegged you to be one of _those_ guys Frank. Would it make you feel better, if I told you, 'you weren't the first, but you were definitely the best'? Does that make you feel better?"

"I'm not talking about Ned."

At Frank's words, Nancy's confusion just about tripled. Ned, for the most part, had been the topic of the afternoon, evening, and night. Now that Frank had changed that, she didn't know what to expect. Given the day's events, she doubted that that was a good thing. "Then who the hell are you talking about?"

"Ben. He's spent the night here before."

"Yeah...what's your point?"

"My point?" Frank asked incredulously. "My point is that you have a boyfriend. You have a boyfriend, and you slept with me."

"Frank..."

"You cheated on him, Nancy. And now I'm a part of it." Frank turned around angrily, opening his suitcase to take out a new shirt.

Nancy stepped in front of him to try and keep his attention. She placed a hand on his form. "So? It's not that big of a deal, Frank."

Frank shrugged away from her touch, almost as though it had burned him. "Not a big deal?" His eyes flashed. "This isn't just some kiss that we can shrug off and say it was the moment or...whatever. Sleeping with someone is a big deal. Then again, your scales of important and what's right and what's wrong have clearly changed since you came out here."

"I'm sorry. What?"

"Having sex with someone while you're dating someone else is—and you're playing it off like it's nothing. What exactly am I supposed to do when Ben comes in a couple of days? Say, 'Hey Ben that sure was a great goal in the game last week. Too bad about the yellow card though. By the way, your girlfriend is a great lay. I hope you don't mind, but she invited me over for a real wild time."

"Don't you dare--,"

"What? You don't want to hear this? You're not scared by a badly planned attempt to bring out your stalker, but you can't handle the truth? Too bad. It's about time someone told you the truth. I don't know you anymore. This LA thing has changed you. The Nancy that I knew was a great friend. She was smart. She was strong. From what I've seen these past few months, you aren't any of those things. You may have learned how to act so people don't notice the difference, but I can see right through you."

"I..." Frank pushed past Nancy into the hallway. She followed right up to the point where he was putting on his shoes, back in the entryway of the apartment. "What are you doing?" She decided that addressing anything that had happened or that had been said wasn't a smart idea; that would mean she would have to process it all, and she didn't feel that that could end well at all.

"Leaving. Do us all a favor, and just lock yourself in here so nothing else will happen."

"Don't you think that we should talk about--,"

"I'm done talking." Frank left without another word, leaving Nancy staring at the door blankly. Eventually as it all set in, the sheet that she had been grasping fell to the floor. She was soon to follow. The day had not gone well.

**NDHB**

Joe yawned as he rushed up the stairs of Nancy's apartment building, too confused and annoyed to wait for the elevator. About 20 minutes ago he had been sleeping comfortably in his hotel room after a long day of trying to determine whether or not the case had actually been solved. Then Frank had burst in and, with little explanation, ordered Joe to take over on the bodyguard front. It hadn't taken Joe very long to determine that Nancy had been left alone, and he had made the decision to forego interrogating his brother for getting over to Nancy's.

By the time he had reached Nancy's apartment, Joe's mental clarity was starting to set in. He pulled his copy of the key out of his pocket, but when he inserted it into the lock and turned it, he found that the door was already unlocked. A little more worry set in. Joe opened the door.

The sight before him set off even more alarms, and the panic began. One look at Nancy's form, kneeling on the floor, naked, crying, and tangled in a bed sheet was enough to make Joe assume the worst. He rushed in; the door flying closed, and knelt down next to her. "Nancy? Nancy? What happened?" He gripped her shoulders gently, trying to get her attention to little avail. "Nancy, tell me what happened. Did he attack you? Rape you?"

"What?" Nancy started. She wiped at her face, then seemed to realize her situation and grabbed the sheet to wrap it around herself better. "How can you even—Frank would never do something like that."

"Wait. Frank was the last one here?" Joe's frown deepened as the confusion truly set in. Then he caught the trail of clothes leading down the hallway. Things started to become quite a bit clearer. "You...slept with Frank."

Nancy nodded. "God..." She shook her head and then half-smiled with her eyes still shining with tears. "I was so stupid."

"What happened exactly?" Joe probed cautiously. "All I really know is that Frank came storming into the hotel and told me that I had to come over because he couldn't be here anymore, and then I come here and you're crying on the floor."

By the time he was finished, Nancy had composed herself. "Your brother thinks that I turned him into some sort of...libertine by...seducing him with my feminine wiles or something."

Had the situation been different, Joe probably would have chuckled; the idea of Nancy setting out to seduce anyone one was laughable. "Well...did you?"

"No. It just kind of happened. We were fighting about what I did calling Ned in to try and help with the case. He said something about freaking out when he saw me get shot, and then, we were kissing. We both had a lot of energy, and I guess we--,"

"OK, I wanna know what happened, but I don't need to know the details of _that._" Joe cut her off. "You're talking about my brother."

"Sorry. Anyway, after we...slept together, he started to freak out because I'm technically with Ben. He said all of this stuff about how it shouldn't have happened, and how...wrong it was for me to have sex with him when I was with Ben, and the position that I put him in. And then he told me how much I've changed, told me that he was done talking, and left." Nancy shook her head again. "I can't believe I was so damn stupid."

Joe gave a small smile, hoping to get something other than self-deprecation out of his friend. "Hey, I know my brother isn't exactly a prize, but that doesn't mean you were a complete idiot to sleep with him. He does have a couple of good attributes."

"No. Not about that. I mean, I'm starting to regret the way that it happened but that was pretty--,"

"Again, verging on too much information."

"Sorry. I just wish that I would have told him the truth about Ben."

"And what exactly is the truth about Ben?" After the bit of clarity that he had had, Joe found himself starting to get confused again, although he was proud of himself for lasting as long as he had without getting too lost; things were definitely moving quickly.

Nancy hesitated. "Will you promise me that you won't tell anyone?"

"Of course."

"Ben and I...aren't really together. We met through George, and we hit it off, as friends, right away. And we agreed that pretending to be together for the public would be a good idea. My publicist wanted me to be linked with someone so I could look like a nice, wholesome girl again after Brenda's article made the national papers. And Ben was starting to make it big. Given his talent and his looks, he knew he would be in the spotlight. He and his boyfriend decided that since he wasn't out with any of his family or most of his friends, that he should have a high profile publicity relationship."

Joe did a double take. "Wait...Ben's gay?"

"Yeah. He's a great friend, just not my boyfriend. But aside from me, and now you, and the people that Ben has told, only our publicists know. Not even Bess or my dad. So you can't tell anyone."

"I won't." Joe paused briefly. "It wasn't your place to tell Frank." He assured. Joe wasn't entirely sure that his words were very helpful when Nancy didn't respond. "Why don't you go and take a shower, let yourself calm down. I'll clean this stuff up and start a pot of coffee. I don't see either of us getting any more sleep tonight. Where do you put your laundry?"

"In the washing machine." Nancy nearly rolled her eyes. Frank had asked the same question when he had first started staying over, assuming that she had her laundry sent out. "There's a small room to the right if you go through the kitchen. Some of the stuff might be dry clean only and that stuff goes in the bag that's hanging on the back of the door."

"All right." Joe nodded. He started to stand, and helped Nancy up. "I'll see you in a little bit." When Nancy was gone, behind the closed door of the bathroom, Joe sighed and shook his head. The day had been absolutely filled with twists. He started to gather up the discarded clothing, trying to process the events of the day.

His thought process started with the staged shooting, which, Joe had to admit, reminded him of stunts that Nancy had pulled before during cases. Most distinctly he could remember the time that she had convinced everyone that she was making a bomb on the window of a limousine. Most of the time, her plans had worked. He wasn't all that surprised that she had tried another.

Joe then moved on to the event that he was less sure on what to think about it. Nancy and Frank's sudden coital adventure certainly was surprising to say the least. On one hand, he knew that the romantic tension between the two had been mounting and that some sort of release had been inevitable. On the other hand, he really hadn't expected that release to be the duo sleeping together. And even if he had anticipated that event, he certainly couldn't imagine Frank getting quite so upset about it, even if there was another man in the picture. He knew to be fair he needed to get Frank's side of the story. He just wondered when Frank would be calm enough for that to happen.

Joe was opening up the door to Nancy's laundry room when he felt a pinch in the side of his neck. Moments later, black crept into his field of vision, he got dizzy, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

**NDHB**

Nancy wrapped herself in her bathrobe after she finished toweling off. Joe had been quite right when he had suggested the shower to calm herself down. The hot water had been soothing and simply standing under it for a while had been enough to help clear her mind. She knew that working herself up over everything that had happened had not helped her at all; maybe Frank had had a point or two, but Joe had been right when he had brought up the fact that she didn't have the right to tell Frank the truth. Eventually, she would be able to, she knew, should he ever decide to speak to her again, but until then she would simply have to make the best of the situation.

Nancy sighed, and pulled her hair over one shoulder. That was neither here nor there. She had to prioritize. The stalker who was trying to kill her was slightly more important. It was this thought that cued her hearing of a muffled crackling. She frowned and opened the door, automatically feeling the temperature change. A few steps into the hallway and the smell of smoke hit her. It didn't take long for her to catch on that there was a fire.

"Joe!" She shouted, wondering why he hadn't come and gotten her or why her smoke alarm hadn't gone off. She briefly ducked into the hall closet, where she kept a fire extinguisher. With the tool in hand she continued out to her kitchen, where the smoke got thicker, and the heat more intense. "Joe!" She tried again, coughing a little.

She was about to get on her knees so she could crawl to look for Joe when she saw the shadowed figure walking towards her from the laundry area. She could see a flickering orange glow in that direction that she knew had to be from the fire. Her first assumption was that the figure was Joe, but then she noticed that the form most definitely had a feminine figure. And she was most definitely too tall to be Bess. "Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, Nance. You don't remember me?" The voice lilted. "Why am I not surprised?"

As she got closer, Nancy could see that the woman was her age, with a head of curly black hair and a heavily painted face. It took her a moment, but in the end she recognized her as her roommate from college. "Lily? What are you doing here? Never mind. We have to get out of here. Go! I have to find my friend!" She hurried forward and tried to grab onto the woman's arm and ease her towards the door but the woman didn't move. That was when Nancy noticed Lily's eerily calm demeanor.

"You're not going anywhere Nancy. It's time for you to pay. You and your little perfect life."

Nancy closed her eyes briefly. They had never even thought for a moment that her stalker might be a woman. She reopened them, hoping to invoke some sense of reason in her former friend. "Lily, I know you must be upset, but this is no way to deal with this. Let's just go outside where it's safe and we can--,"

"How would you know how I feel? You always were off in your own little world, barely aware that I existed, even when I helped with your cases, and your homework when you fell behind or whatever you needed help with." Lily shook her head. "You never cared. I loved you and you used me. Well that's over now. Because no one's going to help you this time." She revealed one of her hands to Nancy; it held a half-filled syringe. "Tomorrow's headlines ought to be real special. Young Starlet dies in apartment complex fire. The world grieves over its loss."

She thrust the syringe forward towards Nancy's arm, and Nancy did the first thing she could think of.

Lily screamed as a white cloud of chemical collided with her face. "You bitch!" She threw herself blindly forward and tackled Nancy to the ground. The syringe was gone, but her hands found their way around Nancy's throat and she began to tighten her grip as much as she could.

"You don't have to do this Lily." Nancy choked out.

"Like hell I don't."

Nancy felt her strength dwindling, a combination of the pervading smoke and the strangling force around her neck. All she could think about was stopping this to find out if Joe was alright. She took as much in as much breath as she could and brought the fire extinguisher up to hit Lily across the skull; the first blow knocked the girl off of her form, the second caused her to collapse to the ground.

Nancy didn't waste anytime getting up and hurrying towards her laundry room. She found Joe's unconscious form strewn across the floor, half in the hallway and half in the laundry room. It was now clear that the source of the fire was at the end of the hallway, and the traveling down, starting to get close to Joe's form. She summoned all the strength that she had to lift his shoulders and head off of the ground, and to start to drag him out of the apartment.

She was coughing heavily by the time that she had the apartment door open and was able to place Joe on the floor of the hallway of the apartment building, but she didn't take anytime to stop. She ran down the hall to the nearest fire alarm, pulled it setting off a loud ringing, and then ran back into her apartment.

Lily was still unconscious, exactly where she had fallen after the blow from the fire extinguisher. The fire had clearly spread, and the flames were starting to dance dangerously close to her form. Nancy tried to lift her as she had Joe, but found herself lacking the strength to do much of anything. She moved so she was on the other side of her stalker's form to try a different approach of pushing her. This made a bit more progress, but Nancy soon felt the sting of flames licking at her back.

The burns sent a new burst of adrenaline through her and she jumped back to the other side of Lily, grabbing onto her arms and pulling with all of her might. Slowly the girl began to move and eventually Nancy managed to get them both out of the burning apartment.

Nancy closed the door behind her to help block the flames from the hall, but after that lost all energy. She collapsed against the far wall, near the still fallen Joe in a fit of coughing.

**NDHB**

There were a number of twists in this one. Any thoughts?


	7. A Step Too Far

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I also am not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or other pop culture entities mentioned in this story.

Author's notes: Thank you reviewers! I'm glad that everyone is enjoying the story so much. I really love getting your reactions to everything.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional. Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter Seven-A Step Too Far**

Excerpt From Nancy Drew's Police Statement:

_September 12, 2008_

"_The woman who started the fire and...incapacitated Joe--,"_

"_It appears that Mr. Hardy was drugged. The doctors are still waiting on the blood test to determine what was used."_

"_Oh, well...the woman who drugged him is the woman that I pulled out of the fire. Her name is Lily Hargrove. She's also the one who has been stalking me since the beginning of the summer. All of the evidence is in the custody of the...other private detective I've hired."_

"_And do you have any connection to Ms. Hargrove?"_

"_She was my roommate sophomore year in college. Well, three-quarters of sophomore year anyway. When I got back from spring break, she was gone. The RA said that she had unexpectedly dropped out."_

"_Our preliminary background check has shown us that she suffered a mental break and was committed to an institution. It appears that she was released this spring. Would you please describe for us the events of the evening?"_

"_Well, Joe was doing some laundry and I was taking a shower. When I got out I heard the crackling of the fire. I grabbed the fire extinguisher that I keep in the hall closet. By the time I got out of the kitchen, Lily was walking towards me from the laundry room. I realized that she was the one who had been stalking me. She told me that I wouldn't be leaving the apartment and came at me with a syringe. We fought, and eventually I managed to knock her unconscious with the fire extinguisher, and I got her and Joe out of the apartment."_

"_We'll have to speak with you more once we've gathered more information. We have received the information that the fire department was able to stop the fire from spreading throughout the entire building. Unfortunately, a lot of damage was still done to your apartment. It's unlikely that you'll be able to go back to it for quite some time."_

"_Well, at least no one else in the building lost anything."_

Joe was sitting in his hospital bed when Nancy entered. Both had been given private rooms in the emergency room upon their entrance to the facility, but they had been separated until their status had been determined and the police could talk to them. Now that the detectives had gone, Joe figured Nancy had decided that it was time to check on Joe, even if she had to drag her oxygen tank behind her to do so.

Joe almost laughed at her disheveled appearance. She was normally quite put together, but at that moment she had an oxygen tube inserted in her nose, her hair was all over the place, her face was smeared with soot, and she had an oversized hospital gown on with scrub pants beneath it; it wasn't quite the designer jeans he was used to seeing her in. Just the same, Joe quickly rethought the decision to laugh when he remembered how quickly it would cause him to start coughing. "Hey there." He greeted quietly.

"Hey." Nancy took a seat by the bed, matching his smile. "How are you feeling?"

"A little groggy and weak, but the doctor said that with a couple of hours I'll be virtually good as new. You?"

"I've been worse." Nancy shrugged.

Joe looked at her pointedly, having witnessed, or at least heard about the majority of her night; it hadn't been all that pleasant. "You've also been a hell of a lot better."

Nancy sighed. That certainly wasn't the road she had been hoping to go down. She had really been hoping for a distraction. "I guess you could say that. But I'll be fine. I'll just have to make sure that my back is covered up for a little while." At Joe's questioning look she clarified. "It got burned when I was getting Lily out of the apartment."

"Well...the good news is that is all over."

"Yeah. You get to back to Vanessa. Think you'll get around to proposing to her?"

"The thought has been crossing my mind a bit more."

"Well, you have to let me know when you do. I'll have to get Vanessa a pretty nice wedding gift to thank her for letting me steal you this long."

"I'm sure she'll say keeping me alive is good enough for her, Nan." This was Joe's indirect method of thanking Nancy for saving his life, but despite his lack of outright saying, 'Thank you,' it appeared to be enough.

Nancy shook her head. "Yeah, because I was really going to leave you to the fire that burned my apartment down."

Joe winced. "So...it's gone?"

"The building itself is fine. Pretty sure my place was gutted out though."

"Oh man...I'm sorry Nan."

"No need." Nancy half-smiled. "All my important stuff is either in a safe deposit box or back in River Heights. The rest is all replaceable."

"Still...so much has already happened to you, to add this on top of it all, it has too--,"

"I'm a big girl. I'll survive. I mean...I'll be good as new in--," Nancy cut herself off with a fit of coughing. After a moment she slowed and apologized. "Sorry. Smoke inhalation."

"Yeah, it can be a real bitch." A knock on the door frame turned their attention. Joe smiled, but then glanced uneasily at Nancy. "Morning Frank." He greeted quietly.

"Morning." Frank nodded. "You all right?"

"Sure. Nancy took great care of me."

"Yeah. She's pretty good at that, isn't she?" Frank remarked off-handedly.

Nancy stood in the space of an awkward silence. "I'd better get back to my room."

Joe sighed, giving his brother a look. "Nance, you don't have to leave."

"I know. But I should call Bess. We're going to need to get a jump on the day." Nancy stopped short in the doorway when she nearly collided with Frank. He looked down at her with a cold glance. "Excuse me." She turned sideways to get past him when he hardly moved.

"Gee, you guys aren't acting awkward at all." Joe said, after she was gone. "You gonna tell me what happened?"

Frank took the abandoned chair. "I'm sure she's told you everything."

"You're my brother. Just because she told me a story that paints you to be a complete bastard doesn't mean I'm not going to give you the benefit of the doubt and let you tell your side of the story."

"There's not much to tell. We fought, we had sex, and we fought some more."

"And you fought the second time because...?"

Frank just looked at his brother. "Well for one, I don't exactly want to be on the receiving end of Ben's fist when he finds out, and I don't appreciate being put in that position."

Joe shook his head. "I don't think that getting you beat up was her intention."

"It doesn't matter what her intention was Joe. She put me in a very bad position."

"Well, I'm sure at the time it was a very good position." Joe cracked. At Frank's glare he held up his hands in mock surrender. "OK, so you're not ready to joke about it yet." He paused briefly. "Can I say something without you completely blowing it out of proportion and saying I'm on her side?"

"Once."

"OK...didn't you know about Ben before last night? Nobody forced you to sleep with her."

"That's not the only reason I'm...upset with her. That stunt she pulled with Ned today--,"

"Yesterday." Joe corrected quietly.

Frank rolled his hands. "Whatever. It was irresponsible, dangerous...She should have told us about it when she planned it. She hired us to keep her safe and she came up with this half-witted...scheme because she didn't think we were doing a good job. You don't think we should have known about that?"

Joe hesitated. His brother was clearly upset and the wrong words would definitely send him over the edge, which most certainly wasn't what his intentions were. "If she was really worried, then I agree, she should have told us."

"There's a but coming, isn't there?" At Joe's wary look Frank shook his head, exasperated. "Joe, you can't possibly tell me that can rationalize what she did. We needed to know what she was planning."

"Frank, I think that you're right, she shouldn't have kept her plans to herself. I just don't think that you can fault the plan itself. We've all come up with crazy stunts to finish cases. I seem to recall a time when you were anxious to bait someone into a confession and you--,"

"This isn't about me. She's the one who--,"

"Excuse me, Mr. Hardy?" A nurse ducked into the room, cutting off Frank's tirade. "The doctor has cleared you for discharge, if you'd like to start getting ready."

**NDHB**

"I called everyone that you asked me to." Bess announced, entering Nancy's room. She swung her purse and a large shopping bag onto the chair next to the bed before pulling herself out of a denim jacket. "Everyone at the show's thoughts are with you, and the wardrobe people are more than happy to adjust the back of your costume. I booked you a room at the Sedgewick, even though you are more than welcome to come stay with me and Brian. I also picked you up some clothes to leave this place in. The press is starting to gather outside big time now that the word has gotten out that the fire was in your place. It's just some jeans and a tee-shirt but it's way more presentable than the hospital couture you're currently wearing, I also picked up some stuff for Frank and--," Bess cut herself off, looking around the room. "Where are Frank and Joe?"

Nancy started to get up off of the bed. Her oxygen had been removed, and she had wiped off her face, but a surly expression was quite present. "I would assume either back in Joe's room or on their way back to their hotel."

"You mean you don't know?" Bess asked incredulously.

"Nope." Nancy grabbed the clothing bag and pulled the curtain around her closed so she could change.

"But they're your bodyguards."

"Not anymore. My stalker has been arrested. Lily Hargrove. The case is closed."

"That name sounds familiar...Do you mean to tell me that that it? They're just going to leave you without a word and go back to Bayport?"

"The case is over, Bess. And we have a strictly business relationship."

"Well, if it's so business-like, aren't they going to want their money for all their work?"

"The check's in the mail...well it can be by this afternoon."

"Nancy, did something happen?"

"Yeah. My old college roommate torched my apartment."

"That's who she is. But I sort of meant with Frank and Joe."

"Then no. Nothing happened."

Bess pulled the curtain back. Nancy was still in her hospital gown, but was buttoning the jeans that she had traded the scrub pants for. Bess crossed her arms, over her chest and gave her friend a pointed look. "Don't give me that crap."

"It's not crap." Nancy reached into the bag. "Nothing happened."

"Oh please." Bess rolled her eyes. "You and I have been friends since we were like, born. Do you really think that I can't tell the difference between your real voice and your bullshit voice?" Nancy simply sighed. "So are you going to tell me what happened, or do I have to guess?"

"I really don't feel like talking about it right now, Bess." Nancy pulled the curtain closed again. "Quite frankly, all I feel like doing is disappearing to some remote island and building a little hut where I can live the rest of my life."

Bess frowned. "Nancy, what's going on here? That doesn't sound like you at all."

The curtain reopened and Nancy stepped out, now in the form fitting blue tee Bess had brought her. "Well, maybe I just don't know me that well."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means that up until last night I knew exactly who I was, and now I barely have a clue."

**NDHB**

Nancy was disappointed when her dance practice ended the next day. Despite the fact that everyone thought she was crazy for getting back to work on the show so quickly, it was still one of the most peaceful and normal things about her existence in that moment, and she was pretty sure she could use every bit of peaceful and normal that she could get.

Bess was quite busy juggling her wedding with trying to help straighten everything out with Nancy's life that had been destroyed in the fire, not to mention she was still kind of annoyed with the fact that Nancy was refusing to tell her the whole story about the night of the fire. All that the peppy blond knew was that Nancy was concerned that she had changed.

As for things with the boys, Nancy had yet to see them yet since her exit from the hospital room, but she knew that she would have to see them eventually, more than likely before they left to go back home. She was willing to put money on the fact that it would be awkward, if not loud and emotional. She knew another knock-down, drag-out fight with Frank was not entirely out of the question, especially if Joe was feeling particularly well, Joe-like.

When she got back to her room at the Sedgewick, she untied her hair from the ponytail she had sported while dancing. Now that Sub Rosa and the stalking debacle were both over with she was seriously considering doing something, _anything_ really to her hair, just for a change. Nancy knew that in the end, she would end up trimming the ends, maybe a very light highlight at the most, but it was still easy for her to imagine what she could do without having to worry about show continuity or anything.

Nancy then kicked her shoes off, and was about to sit on the couch when there was a knock at the door. She sighed. People were sort of the last thing she wanted to deal with. Just the same she plastered on her best happy face and opened up the door. She was pleasantly surprised by the visitor.

"Ben, what are you doing here?" She hugged the tall soccer player, and ushered him into the hotel room. He hauled a bag behind himself. "Your scheduled surprise visit isn't for another couple of days. You were supposed to show up for the premiere of Dancing."

"I know, but my knee has been bothering me, so coach has me benched, so I'll be stronger for post-season and Bess called me about the fire...I know I'd want my boyfriend to show up if I lost everything." Ben brushed her hair behind her ear gently, and then took a step back, surveying the room. "Well, if you can't be at home, this isn't a bad place to be."

"No kidding." Nancy nodded. "Bess sure knows how to manage a life that's been made a mess of."

"You're dealing with more than the fire aren't you?" At Nancy's nod, Ben looked at her knowingly. "You'll have to tell me all about it. But first I'm gonna grab a shower, OK? I smell like airplane."

"Yeah, of course. The bathroom's right through there." Nancy had settled into the couch with a chosen TV program to occupy her when there was another knock at the door. "Now what?" She muttered, mostly to herself as she stood up and went to answer it. The form in front of her was more surprising then Ben had been.

"Uh...Hey."

Nancy snapped out of her daze when he spoke. "Frank, hey. What brings you here? I mean...come in." She opened the door wider and he entered slowly. After she closed the door, they stood in silence, avoiding each other's gaze. "Umm...not to be rude or anything, but why did you come here?"

"I...we need to talk." Frank answered. "I still think that everything you did was completely...well to be honest irresponsible, immature and--,"

"Save the lecture, Frank." Nancy brushed him off, turning away. "I get it. I was a great detective, but living out here with all this sun has turned me into some sort of super tramp who just _thinks_ she can solve mysteries."

Frank put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around. "That wasn't what I was going to say."

"I'm sure it would have been implied."

"Actually, if you would have let me finish, I was going to say, 'but I'm starting to realize that you've learned that you have to do things a bit differently out here to get the same results.'"

"Oh." Nancy said quietly.

"Yeah. I know it's not really the same as an apology but--,"

Nancy finished for him, nodding. "It's as close as you can get right now. Kinda the same with me. I'm not going to apologize for what we did. As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the best decisions I've made in a long time."

"I know that it--,"

"OK, now I'm ready to hear everything about what's been going on with you."

Frank's expression, although it had been relaxing and starting to look relatively happened, darkened and he frowned when he saw Ben, in a pair of jeans carrying a shirt in his hands, his skin and hair still damp from what Frank could only assume was a shower, enter the room and kiss Nancy on the temple.

Ben caught Frank's eye almost immediately. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were here Frank." He grinned. "You must be glad that this whole mess is over with, huh?"

Frank stared somewhat blankly at the hand that was being held out to him. "Yeah." He shook it tersely. "I couldn't be happier to head back to Bayport."

"Well, have a seat." Ben gestured. "Nancy was just about to tell me about how you guys caught her stalker. I'm sure you can fill in some of the details."

"Actually, I was just about to leave. I only stopped in to make sure Nancy was doing OK. Joe and mine's flight leaves early tomorrow morning."

"OK, well it was great to see you."

"Yeah, you too. You had a great goal in the game last week. Too bad about the yellow card though."

"Thanks for stopping by Frank." Nancy had noticed his change in mood instantly. It was clear what his problem was, especially after his words with Ben. She only hoped he wouldn't say his final words that he had planned; however fake her relationship was, it would still be humiliating when put into those terms.

Frank didn't answer her. "By the way," he was halfway out the door when he turned back, a cold expression on his face, "do me a favor, and don't call me." He turned back and left without another word.

**NDHB**

"I hope you understand that we're letting this happen because you spent so much time dedicated to this case. There won't be an officer in the room with you, but we will be watching, so you better behave. We know from your reputation that you're well respected, but we still don't want any mishaps."

Frank tuned out the lecture from the detective now handling Nancy's case while he was led down a hallway to an interrogation room.

"She's right inside, so...whenever you're ready."

Frank didn't waste anytime entering the interrogation room and taking a seat at the plane metal table across from the curly-headed woman. "Hey there, Lily."

"Oh. It's the other brother." Lily Hargrove rolled looked at her nails. "I was a little surprised when it wasn't you I was knocking out at the apartment to tell you the truth. I was going to have fun taking you out of the picture."

"Well, I'm sorry that I disappointed you."

"And here I thought that all you could feel was your puppy love for Nancy."

"Isn't that your job?" Frank challenged.

Lily laughed. "Really, that's the tactic you choose? The cops already have my confession honey."

"I know. I'm not here for a confession."

"Oh. You're one of those. You wanna know why."

"Not particularly. I just wanted to know if you're satisfied, now that you've managed to take away everything but her life."

"Oh please." Lily rolled her eyes. "You're acting like I killed her puppy."

"You burned down her apartment."

"I get it. You love her. It's not just a lusty little crush for you. It's the full on, gut-wrenching love. And you have to watch her make all happy couple with Ben. But you can't do anything about it so you think you'll be able to take out your frustrations by making me feel guilty. Guess what, honey? It's not going to work."

"Look." Frank leaned across the table so he was much closer to Lily. "I could care less about what you're feeling. I just want to make it perfectly clear, that whenever the hell you manage to get out of prison, or whatever institution they send you to, if you even so much think about sending Nancy one of your little notes, then you'll be facing a whole lot more than an inmate ready to make you her bitch."

As Frank left the room he didn't hear Lily's snarky reply. He was just glad that was over with.

**NDHB**

Thoughts?


	8. Worlds Apart

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I am also not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or pop culture icons mentioned in this story.

Author's Notes: Sorry about the delay. I have no real excuse, just life shoving fun into the backseat for a while.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional. Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter Eight- Worlds Apart**

Excerpt from Us Weekly Article "Intervention Ahead?":

_While most of the remaining celebrities in the Dancing with the Stars All Star Edition are locking themselves up in their dance studios in order to prepare for the upcoming semi-finals, Nancy Drew has instead opted to fly back to the Midwest, to her hometown of River Heights, Illinois. The question on everybody's minds is, quite naturally, "Why?" The star has made no comments about plans to go back home, and the sudden trip has fueled the speculation that she's hiding something from the general public. And what exactly is she hiding? No one knows for sure._

_Speculations about the actress have been raging ever since her appearance on the premiere episode of Dancing, where even the stage makeup she wore wasn't enough to hide the dark circles under her eyes. The star also has been turning heads with a much slimmer figure. This new look continues to grow more sickly in appearance (See pictures on opposite page) and is quite the contrast to the healthy and fit body with which she started her career. Sources close to the star have confirmed that this problem started before the show did, but nobody has been able to offer any confirmed explanation for the new appearance._

_Of the theories that have been presented, the most popular ones have been that the actress is battling a worsening drug addiction, or possibly an eating disorder. With these guesses in mind, it has been suggested that the trip home is for an intervention by her family, hoping to prevent her from spiraling completely out of control. Most people asked do not believe that a situation such as this would be the case, but we have received no confirmations or denials from the Drew representative. _

_A more pleasant suggestion as to what has been going on with Nancy? A few sources claim that the star is merely lacking in sleep die to an extremely active relationship with her soccer star boyfriend, Ben Wyndham. It certainly is true that the couple has been spending an extensive amount of time with each other as of late._

_Whatever the case may be, we will be printing a definitive answer with as many details as possible, once it has been confirmed._

"I have the pleasure of announcing them for their first dance, Mr. and Mrs. Brian Jenson."

Nancy joined in with the clapping and cheering from her position at the head table when Bess and Brian made their way onto the dance floor of the reception hall. The wedding had been a relatively small, but grand affair, while the reception promised to be a more raucous occasion. Nancy watched as the two danced, quite happy for her friend. The crowd all watched the typical first dances before the announcement was made that anyone could join in on the dance floor. Nancy took the opportunity to get up, and quickly retrieve Ben from his table, pulling him out onto the dance floor.

"I'm sorry that you're stuck at a table with a bunch of old ladies you don't know." She apologized once they had started dancing. She had managed to hijack the seating chart in order to prevent the most awkward and quite possibly volatile situations, but she only had so much room to play with in the long run.

Ben simply smiled. "It's all right. They don't seem to have a clue who I am, so mostly I've just been listening to them whisper at the 'mysterious, yet handsome, stranger'. Their words, not mine. Although, I think one of them is trying to get me drunk." He informed cheekily.

"I'm sorry." She repeated, not quite seeing the humor of the situation. "It's just that it was either there, or at the table with my dad and the Hardys." She glanced at the table. Joe was up, dancing with Vanessa, but Fenton, Laura, Frank, and Carson were still sitting down, chatting. In the two months since Lily had been caught, there had been absolutely no conversation between her and Frank, not that she hadn't tried; he didn't respond to her e-mails or text messages, and every time that she called, he was 'out' despite the fact that she could often hear him telling Joe to say so. "And that probably would have been bad."

Ben frowned. "You mean you guys still aren't talking?"

"Not for the lack of my trying." Nancy shook her head. "He just doesn't want to hear from me."

"I'm so sorry about this Nancy." Now it was Ben's turn to apologize, having felt guilty about the entire 'affair' since Nancy had informed him of it after his collision with Frank at Nancy's hotel room. "I really wish you would just take my offer. It's been pretty well established that I'm straight and if you wanted to break up--,"

"Ben, I'm not going to make your life more complicated just because I was an idiot."

"I don't know. My life has been overwhelmingly boring since the team is out of the post-season. It might at least be interesting to have to arrange some slightly more covert visits with Danny."

Nancy gave him a pointed look, and stopped dancing. "But if you aren't dating someone then eventually the rumors will start. And, not to sound conceited, but I doubt you'll be able to find someone quite as understanding as me."

"And not to build up his ego, especially since I happen to think that he's a complete jackass right now, but you're never going to find a man as perfect for you as Frank." Ben moved a strand of hair away from her face. "Especially while they are all under the impression that you're quite involved with me."

The song ended and several people started to clap. Nancy glanced around at everyone; Joe was walking over to her, and Frank was smiling broadly and laughing with his parents. The second that he caught her gaze, his eyes hardened and he turned away. Nancy swallowed and tightened her jaw. "Then I guess I'll be single in my real life for a while then, won't I?"

"Nance, I'm trying to do the right thing by giving you a way out of this."

"And I _am_ doing the right thing by staying."

Their conversation was prevented from continuing when Joe reached them. He quickly shook hands with Ben, and hugged Nancy, planting a kiss on her cheek. "Nancy, Ben, it's great to see you guys again." He greeted with a grin.

"Hey Joe."

"Joe, how's the business been going?" Ben asked genially.

Joe shrugged. "Pretty good. Ever since word got out that we were the guys Nancy trusted with her life, demand for our services has been quite high."

"And you didn't want to sign the contract saying that you could use my case for publicity." Nancy smirked. "I never used to be one for saying I told you so, but..."

"Oh, don't use your little newfangled Hollywood attitude on me." Joe shook his head. "I never claimed to be above using your name for a little business. The holier-than-thou attitude was entirely Frank."

Both men watched as her features darkened. "Yeah. No offense or anything, but your brother has that particular attitude down quite well." Ben commented.

"Yeah, I know." Joe nodded. "Frank can be a little..." He trailed off. "Well, I didn't come over here to denounce my brother, however fun it may be."

"And what exactly did you come over here to do?" Nancy asked quietly. "Let me know that you and Van are going to be the next one's throwing a big shindig like this?"

Joe seemed a little surprised. "How'd you know? We haven't told anyone yet. Not even our parents."

"I thought that we went over the fact that just because I spend a lot of time in front of the cameras now doesn't mean that I've gone stupid, back when Lily was terrorizing me." Nancy gave him a pointed look. "Vanessa is wearing one, rather large, diamond ring on that chain around her neck. It doesn't exactly take a world class detective to figure out that it's an engagement ring that you're trying, not so successfully to be subtle with. Maybe your father and Frank are just...losing their touch."

"Well congratulations are in order, in any case." Ben cut in before Joe could retort.

"Thanks." Joe nodded. "Do you mind if I steal Nancy for a dance? Bess and Brian are bound to have theme dances, and I want to get at least one dance in with the best dancer in here before who I dance with is up to them."

"Go right ahead." Ben shoved his hands into his pants pockets. "There are some old women boozing themselves up that are dying for the opportunity to slap me on the ass."

"You could go see Van, if you want a break." Joe suggested. "I can't guarantee that she won't go for a pinch or two but..."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."

"I'll come rescue you in a couple of minutes." Nancy assured, taking a moment to place a quick kiss on Ben's lips, before holding an arm out for Joe to take.

He complied, linking his arm through at the elbow, and leading Nancy to a different spot on the dance floor. The two danced for a few moments before Joe said anything. "So besides brushing up on your observational skills and dancing your butt off on the show, what have you been up to?"

"Nothing." Nancy shrugged. "Reading scripts."

"Oh, anything interesting?'

"A couple of shows want to bring me on late mid-season that I'm thinking about. But...I can't really say that much. Contracts and all."

"That could be exciting." Joe encouraged.

Nancy glanced back over to Frank's table once more. "Not as exciting as the rest of the night's going to be."

"Why?" Joe raised an eyebrow. "What do you know?"

"Nothing." Nancy shook her head. "I just...need to talk to your brother."

Joe looked down at her, his brow furrowing. "Nance, I'm not so sure that's the best idea. Frank's still...not very receptive when your name comes up in casual conversation, let alone whenever I try and get him to actually talk about what happened."

"Well, he better start getting receptive, because I'm going to talk to him tonight. I'd prefer if it was nice, and calm, and actually willing, but if I need to, I'm not above putting him in a headlock and pinning him against the wall so he has to listen."

"Because that wouldn't disrupt the party." Joe snorted. "You know Nancy, not that I don't love the new feisty boost of confidence that you've been given, but I get the feeling that imposing any sort of physical contact with Frank is only going to bring up old arguments. You might want to start with a small conversation, based entirely on meaningless small talk at a great difference from one another."

"Or you could remind him that it takes two to tango and send his ass over here. I'm going to talk to him tonight, Joe. I _need_ to talk to him tonight."

Joe frowned at the change of tone in her voice. It had gone from being annoyed to being almost pleading. "Nancy...what's changed?" He got no answer. "Nancy, you haven't been this determined to talk to him before now. What's differ...ent..." He trailed off with sudden realization. "Oh boy."

"What?"

"You're not..." he lowered his voice and leaned in closer to her, "pregnant, are you?"

Nancy's eyes widened. "What? No! What in the world gave you that idea?"

"Well, you did sleep with my brother a couple of months ago. And neither of you were exactly forthcoming with details. How am I supposed to know how careful you two were?"

"Very. For heat-of-the-moment sex we were extremely careful." Nancy looked at him sharply, and then sighed. "I'm not pregnant, Joe. I just...need to talk to him."

Joe looked her over for a minute and then nodded. He knew that despite all of her efforts, her voice wouldn't have taken that particularly mix of desperation and defeatism unless it was truly important. "I'll see what I can work out."

"Thanks."

**NDHB**

Nancy was up, getting a drink with her father when Bess, aglow with smiles, approached. Nancy didn't have to hear her say anything to know by the impish twinkle in her eye that something was up.

"Hey there, Nan, Carson, are you two having fun?"

"I for one am having an excellent time." Carson answered. "You have put on quite a party here, Bess."

"I tried my best. Although _someone_ here," Bess looked at Nancy pointedly, "isn't enjoying herself to the full extent of the possibilities available to her."

Nancy rolled her eyes. "Bess, I'm not going to drink flute upon flute of champagne when I'm going to have to train all day tomorrow."

"I wasn't referring to the champagne. In fact, with the rumors flying around you, you shouldn't be drinking at all. If any snaps a picture of you with some booze it will only add fuel to the fire. Speaking of which, have you eaten yet?" Bess shook her head, and didn't bother waiting for an answer. "I was talking about the fact that you haven't set foot anywhere near Frank Hardy all night."

"Maybe that's because I didn't come with Frank. I came with Ben." Nancy tried not to let her tone get too tense, due to the fact that she was with her father, but she knew that with Bess, any discussion of this nature was a slippery slope; Bess had a keen sense when it came to matters of the heart, and Nancy didn't need her, or her father, clued in on everything.

"Oh please." Bess waved her hand. "It's not like in order to talk to the man you have to go make out with him or anythi—oh my god."

"What is it?" Carson frowned, looking at the blond bride in concern.

"Oh nothing." Bess' eyes brightened immediately. "I just need to borrow Nancy for a little bit. Be back in a few."

Before Nancy could even offer any word of protest, Bess had a firm grip on Nancy's forearm and was pulling her out of the reception hall and into the hallway. When they finally stopped, Nancy shook out of Bess' grip. "Bess, what do you--,"

"You slept with Frank." Bess' remark definitely wasn't a question. She knew.

Consequently, Nancy knew that she was in trouble. Her friend wouldn't take kindly to being left out of the loop. "The night Lily was arrested."

"Two months ago?" Bess' eyes widened. "You slept with him two months ago, and you never told me?"

"Well..."

"I can't believe this!"

"It was an extremely hectic time." Nancy tried to explain, in what she hoped was a soothing tone. "I was giving statements to the police all the time, and trying to straighten out the mess with the publicity. It wasn't exactly some great moment of fireworks and ringing bells, and you were so busy with the wedding that I just..."

"Didn't tell me." Bess filled in for her, no pleasantries in her tone. "Does Ben know? Because if you think I'll keep this from him then--,"

Nancy held up her hand to cut her friend off. "One of the first things I did was tell Ben."

"And he's still with you?"

Nancy bit her lip. "We...worked through it." She hoped the lie would be good enough for her friend, but she wasn't counting on it, given her incensed nature.

"So...you and Frank slept together, and Ben's perfectly fine with it?"

"Yeah." Nancy bit back her sigh of relief. "The person with the biggest problem with it is Frank, interestingly enough."

"No kidding." Bess shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "So that explains the reason you flinch every time his name comes up."

Nancy didn't say anything, opting instead to lay in wait and see how angry she had made Bess; traditionally Bess liked to be well informed. Nancy figured that by not telling her, she had upset the balance quite a bit. Her head recoiled when Bess slapped her across the cheek.

"I would have smacked you on the back of the head, but I didn't want to mess up your hair." Bess explained before pulling Nancy into a hug. "But if you keep anymore secrets like this from me, then the state of your hair is not going to be a problem for me."

"So...we're OK?"

"More than." Bess pulled away, and there was a long pause, during which she started to frown. "Wait a minute. You said that there were no...fireworks and ringing bells...do you mean that sex with Frank was...bad?" Bess' voice dropped to a low, horrified tone.

"Actually, that comment was in reference to the aftermath. Frank was..." Nancy started to blush a little. "Amazing."

"Tell me everything." For the second time that day, Bess took a hold of Nancy's arm and began to drag her, this time leading her to a set of chairs. "You owe me details."

"Bess!" Nancy exclaimed, somewhat surprised at her friend's forward nature, even though a part of her knew that she shouldn't be. "Don't you think that's a little inappropriate?"

Bess shook her head. "We are talking about the guy who's been able to push your buttons ever since we were in high school. I think that it's perfectly appropriate to discuss whether or not he was able to do the same thing when he was able to get some hands on experience."

"Well..." Nancy, ever so briefly hesitated. "He did this thing, where he traced over my scars--,"

"Oh. Scars. Those are romantic."

Nancy ignored the comment. "It made everything so much more...there and real... and by the way, if Brian ever gives you the OK, and you get the chance, you might want to kiss Frank. His tongue is absolutely...it brings a whole new meaning to the whole mind-blowing moment of ecstasy."

"OK. That was more than I ever needed to know about my brother." Nancy and Bess' attention turned to Joe, who stood in the doorway of the reception hall with a slight grimace on his face.

Bess laughed. "You should be happy to be related to such a talent."

"OK. As much as I want to continue this lovely and _awkward_ conversation, I just thought you'd like to know that I solved your little problem, Nance." Joe informed. "In about two minutes you'll be able to have your little conversation with Frank. Do me a favor, and leave his tongue out of it?"

Nancy's impish grin faded into a look more akin to dread. "How?"

"Why don't you go in and find out?"

Nancy didn't say another word. Joe and Bess watched as she stood and went back into the reception hall, before sharing a look with each other.

"So...Nancy and Frank."

"Nancy and Frank." Joe nodded.

Bess stood, and walked up next to him. "How long before that thing implodes?"

"Given the way my brother is treating her, it already has."

"So how do we fix it?"

"I get the feeling that I just did my part. I think we'll let them take care of the rest." Joe sighed. "Care to join me for a dance?"

"Aren't they on the theme dances by now?"

"They are. I just happen to have the inside track on what the next dance is. You and I happen to qualify."

**NDHB**

"All right ladies and gentlemen, this next song is a special one, a throwback to the good old days, and as such, the request has been made that everyone dances to it with someone that they've kissed that isn't the person that they've come with." The opening strains of 'Fever' began to feed over the sound system. "And as a side note from an anonymous source, 'Frank, Nancy, that means you, and if you don't, there are a lot of embarrassing stories that I could tell, which may or may not be true.' Well, Frank, Nancy...you heard the man. You better get out on that dance floor."

Nancy barely had time to look before she saw Frank approaching. She nearly smirked. He apparently had something to hide.

"Let's get this over with." Frank said gruffly, before stepping onto the dance floor, and looking at her impatiently for her to join him.

Nancy did as was expected and followed him onto the floor. They started to dance without much fuss. "I see you're still your charming self." Even though she knew if would work against her, she couldn't resist making the comment. When Frank didn't say anything, she glanced around the room, and was a little surprised at what she saw. She smiled. "Oh wow. I never knew that your mom and my dad had a thing."

Frank regarded the dancing pair briefly but turned back to Nancy with the same cold look in his eyes. "My idiot brother is making us dance together. He didn't say anything about us talking. So why don't we both just stay quiet until this is over and we can part ways again?"

"Your brother set this up so we could talk." Nancy informed.

"Well then, he wasted his time. I have nothing to say to you. You made your choice."

"Oh. And you made that so difficult." Nancy hissed through clenched teeth, not wanting to make a scene. "Gee Nance, who would you rather spend time with? Someone who listens to you, and gives a damn about what's going on in your life, or someone who's self-centered and likes to make you feel like shit for something that he had control over?" she mocked. "Oh, that's a real hard decision. Especially when the second one won't even talk to you."

"And you're so perfect?" Frank challenged. "Does Ben even know what we did? Or have you just been too busy with your little dance competition to fill him in?"

"Forget this." Nancy pushed herself away from Frank's arms. "I wanted to talk to you so that I could give you fair warning that if I make it to the finals after this weeks show, then you're going to get a call from the show's producers calling that little contract you signed into effect. And since I doubt that you're going to expose yourself by so blatantly breaching a contract, I wanted to ask you to at least be civil for the cameras. But since you can't even control yourself _at a wedding_ I don't think national television will do anything for your sunny disposition."

Frank had never been one to lose his temper in public, but lately every time that Nancy was around, or even brought up, he found himself fighting a losing battle. What was worse was that he found himself not caring. "Yeah, I'll bet you have a whole lot of self-control. What? Have you only had one boyfriend on the side since me?"

It was all Nancy could do not to slap him. Even so, she couldn't bite back her retort. "I'm not some nymphomaniac slut, Frank. I haven't been with anyone since that night. Not even Ben." She took a long, shaky breath. "The producers will probably call you tomorrow. I'll do you a favor and not talk to you until you get out to LA." She took the last step in backing away from him before turning around, and walking away as quickly as possible. She refused to turn back.

**NDHB**

Thoughts? I have the basics of the rest of the story worked out, but I would like some input on whether people would prefer to see the story more drawn out or if you would prefer that I cut to the chase. I highly doubt that I'll be leaving out anything important if I don't draw everything out, but if the unresolved-ness of how things have been going is something that appeals to you I have some material for that. Please let me know which interests you more.


	9. Hello, My Treacherous Friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I am also not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or pop culture icons mentioned in this story.

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the feedback. I've decided to go with a medium between the long and the short, making it so cleverly, medium. Thank you to everyone who gave input on this decision. As for some concerns raised on characterization, I realize the characters are different, but given that they are clearly older than they were in fandom, the fact that this is so clearly an alternate universe, and the fact that I don't believe any one could possibly be as perfect as the fandom made them out to be, I chose to make the characters different, and if you are one of the people that have a problem with this, I am most certainly not forcing you to read this story. Moving on.

I use italics at the beginning for the excerpt, per usual, but in this chapter there is a place where it is also what is being watched on a television screen as well.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional. Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter Nine-Hello, My Treacherous Friends**

Excerpt from Nancy Drew's blog:

_November 3__rd__, 2008_

_By now I'm sure you all have heard the news that I have dropped out of the Dancing with the Stars competition and Helio will be taking my place to dance against Apollo and Drew. The why of it is really quite simple. It's no secret that lately I haven't been at my healthiest._

_This is mostly due to the fact that I haven't been sleeping well as of late. Personal issues and my intense involvement in the competition clouded my judgment to the point where I ignored my health and personal needs. Despite several attempts from my family, I continued to behave in this practically self-destructive manner. My idiocy was only driven home yesterday, when my actions culminated in an accident._

_I was working on my freestyle with Maks after spending the morning teaching my former bodyguard a rumba. Maks was flipping me over his head when my body gave out on me. I fell unconscious, and because I was behind him, Maks was unable to do anything to try and help me. The landing seriously injured my knee; I'm quite lucky that that's the only injury I sustained, even if we don't know the extent of the damage done yet._

_As it stands, I know have a lot of free time to reevaluate the way I've been taking care of myself and I have several people willing to throw their two cents in. Thanks for all of your support._

_Safety Tip of the Week: Get your rest. You'll never be able to achieve any of your goals if you aren't at your strongest._

Nancy bit the top of her pen while she tried to find the right words for her composition. It was a bad habit, she knew, but if there was ever a way to unblock her thoughts, it was chewing on a pen. Unfortunately, it just wasn't working. Nancy didn't know if it was the slightly euphoric affect that her pain medication had, the still throbbing, though very dull pain radiating from her injured knee, or something else, but for some reason everything that she wrote turned out less than satisfactory. She tore another sheet of paper off of the legal pad she was using and crumpled it up after rereading the few sentences she had written. She groaned in frustration. "It's absolutely impossible."

"What is?" Ben was sitting in a chair across the living room. He lifted his head from the magazine he was reading. As Nancy's fake boyfriend, who was currently in town with little else to do, he was expected to be with her after yesterday's incident in order to help with her recovery, especially given the fact that her assistant was still out of town on her honeymoon; as Nancy's friend he wanted to be with her in order to help out, and to make sure that she was actually resting.

"Making this sound eloquent." Nancy half-heartedly tossed the crumpled ball of paper towards the waste basket. It bounced off the edge. "It's like I completely flunked out of English or something."

"What are you trying to do?" Ben asked.

"Be the bigger person." Ben didn't say anything, but she noticed that he raised an eyebrow. "I'm trying to write a letter to Frank, apologizing. I figure part of my problems are stemming from that mess."

"You don't say."

Nancy ignored the comment that held just the touch of sarcasm that was Ben's 'I told you so' tone and continued. "We spent a good 18 hours together this week and aside from me actually teaching him that dance, I doubt that we said 18 words to each other. I don't want to lose him. Not like this." She sighed. "Anyway, I figure if he gets a letter in the mail, and doesn't know it's from me at first, he might actually read it."

"Sounds logical enough. What are you trying to say?"

Nancy ran a hand through her hair. "Umm, something along the lines of, 'we should have handled things differently two months ago.'"

"And why can't you just say that?" At Nancy's pointed look, his own features turned somewhat incredulous. "How is that a stupid question? You wouldn't want him to be honest with you?"

"Of course I would."

"Then don't bother dressing up what you want to say. Just write it." Ben advised. "And work something in about—," Ben stopped when Nancy's cell phone began to ring. A brief nod from Nancy told him that she wanted him to answer it, so he leaned down and retrieved it from its spot on the coffee table. "Hello?...oh, um, hi...Yeah, she's here... You really want to talk to her?... OK, I'll get her." He placed a hand over the receiver while he pulled the phone away from his face. "He might be beating you to the punch with the whole, being the bigger person thing."

"That's Frank?" Nancy asked, surprised.

"Yeah. He wants to talk to you. Sounds pretty tense. Maybe he's about to admit that he was wrong." Ben grinned cheekily as he stood and handed the phone over.

Nancy took the phone, but briefly hesitated before taking a deep breath and answering. "Frank?... Umm, it's OK. It could be better, naturally, but...you want to meet?... for dinner?... Oh a picnic... Yeah, I could make it tonight... Seven, at the park?... All right, I'll be there...Bye." Nancy hung up. "He wants to have a picnic."

"That...is so not what I expected. Did he say why?"

"He said so we could both serve up some slices of humble pie."

"Weird." Ben shook his head. Frank was an anomaly to him. At first, he had seemed like a great guy, then he seemed like a jerk, and now he just seemed like a tense and rather oddly suddenly friendly guy. "Something's not right."

Nancy tossed the phone back over to Ben. "What do you mean?"

"Why the sudden turnaround? He's been so stubborn before this. Why now?"

"Aww, we might make a sleuth out of you yet." Nancy teased, before thinking about what was being said. Ben was right in the fact that it wasn't like Frank to just turn around in opinion without some sort of outside event influencing him. However, she wanted quite badly to be able to accept the call for what it sounded like. Besides that, she couldn't discern what reason Frank would have to lie about wanting to apologize. "I guess I'll have to find out. I told him that I'd meet him."

"Are you going to go along?"

Nancy gestured to her knee. "Someone's going to have to drive me. Why? You wanna volunteer?"

**NDHB**

In the end, Nancy had opted to use a car service to get to the park, but she had been unable to sway Ben from going with her, so he sat in the car, waiting, whilst she hobbled on her crutches over to the picnic table where she could see Frank sitting. The table was holding a basket, that Nancy assumed contained the meal, and two glasses filled with something she couldn't discern. To Nancy's surprise, Frank stood upon her arrival.

"Nancy, how's your knee?" He pulled her into an embrace, mindful of her crutches, and then kissed her cheek. That alone was more contact that the pair had shared outside of obligations for quite some time.

"Umm...it could be better." Nancy answered, a little bewildered by his actions. Nonetheless, she was determined to follow his lead in the civility department. "How are you? Relieved that you don't have to dance on national television?"

"Among other things."

The silence that followed gave the pair ample time to sit down, Frank on the far side of the table, facing parking lot, with Nancy on the opposite. Nancy waited a moment while eyeing the two flutes filled with a bubbling liquid.

"It's sparkling cider." Frank informed before she could ask. "I thought you might be on drugs for the pain."

"Thanks. That was thoughtful of you." Nancy grabbed the flute and held it up. "To new beginnings?" Her offered toast came out as a question. She wasn't entirely sure if what they were doing would constitute as such, but she received no objections from Frank, who held up his own flute, and they both drank.

Frank gestured to the car behind her in the lot. "Is there someone with you?"

"Just a driver." Nancy shrugged. She figured a little white lie wouldn't hurt. Ben was only there for his own peace of mind and would not be visible at any time during the night.

"Oh..."

Another silence followed, and Nancy took another sip of her drink. "So...do you want to go first, or should--," Nancy trailed off. Her vision swam momentarily, and she shook her head to clear it.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I--," Then her vision swam again, edges of black creeping into view. Her limbs began to feel heavy and her mind clouded. "Drugged." The realization dawned on her right before the sensations became too much for her and she fell forward onto the table, unconscious.

**NDHB**

Ben could barely process the need to throw his hands in front of himself when he was thrown to the floor. He couldn't believe how quickly the night had turned; he had expected to see a fight between Nancy and Frank, mostly shouting, but maybe with a slap thrown in. What had happened was far worse.

"Be right back boys."

The door closed loudly behind him and Ben slowly forced himself up to a sitting position. The room was small and completely bare. There were no windows, and no furnishings except for a television and a bare light bulb on the ceiling. The only other thing that Ben found in the room was a person. Joe Hardy was sitting against the wall opposite the television, with a split lip and a black eye. From the look of surprise registered on his face, Ben doubted that Joe was expecting him.

"That woman is such a crazy bitch." Joe commented, glaring at the closed door.

Ben took note of the fact that Joe didn't greet him, which to him seemed like it would be at least a courtesy. He wondered if maybe there was some sort of etiquette to being kidnapped that he wasn't aware of, given that he hadn't ever been kidnapped. It didn't take him long to decide to simply go with what Joe did. Hopefully it would ease his fear and he would figure out what was going on. "She...shot the driver. Without even thinking about it. He got out of the car, and she just turned and killed him." His attempt at echoing Joe's glib attitude failed miserably. He was much closer to sounding scared and numb. "I thought she was in jail."

"Yeah, that little problem was taken care of when some idiot let a psychotic genius have computer access." Joe answered, scoffing. "Not that there's a flaw in the justice system or anything, but I doubt they realize she's even gone yet. Noticing Ben's dejected expression, he quickly changed the subject and his tone. "You hurt?"

Ben assessed himself before answering. "No. Just...jostled a bit. What about you? That's a nasty bruise."

"Oh, that's nothing." Joe waved him off, and for the first time, Ben took notice that he wasn't restrained in any way. "I'm just not the most cooperative hostage. Neither is Frank."

"But his face was--,"

"His are on his torso." Joe cut Ben off, informatively. "Lily's plan called for Frank, and Nancy couldn't suspect anything."

"Oh." Ben barely paused before asking his question. It did seem like the situation was somewhat avoidable. "Why aren't you tied up or anything? Couldn't you and Frank--,"

"They could but there are multiple things stopping them." The door had reopened, and their petite captor stood in the door frame, swinging a black cuff-like object on one finger. She walked in, kicking the door closed behind her. "First of all, I'm the one who's got the gun, and the knife, and all that other fun weaponry." She crouched down in front of Ben and grabbed roughly onto his ankle, pulling it towards herself.

Ben thought about fighting it, but a well placed glare from Joe convinced him not to.

"And second, I've got these." Lily presented the black cuff in front of him, and yanked it open before closing it around his ankle. "One little push of a button--,"

"What the--," Ben clenched his teeth and slammed his fist into the floor as a shock ripped through his body.

"And you get a nice little electric shock. It's like the little doggie collars. Only funner." She stood and stepped back, as though admiring her handy work.

"Oh, that's real cute, Lily." Joe commented brightly. "Did they let you watch Legally Blond while you were in prison?"

"I'm going to ignore that because I wouldn't want you to be distracted by any pain for the upcoming show." Lily turned around and turned the television on. The screen went from its non-functioning black to a black and white image of a different small room. Frank was sitting on one side of the screen, looking for the most part blankly ahead, but glancing towards Nancy with a concerned gaze at random intervals. Nancy was closer to the middle of the screen; she was also on the floor, still clearly unconscious, but she was propped up against a pole, and her arms were above her head. A pair of handcuffs threaded around the pole held them up.

Joe regarded the screen shortly before turning to Lily. "Are the cuffs really necessary? You already drugged her."

"Well, since little Benjamin here showed up, I'm just fresh out of my handy shock devices. And I highly doubt that shocking the likes of you is going to be enough to stop her from resisting." Lily answered. "Now hush. She's waking up. The show's about to start."

Joe had his mouth open to say more, but thought better of it when Nancy's groan came around.

_Frank's head turned sharply in her direction when Nancy groaned, and her eyelids fluttered open. "Nancy, are you all right?"_

"_Where am I?" She tried to look around, but took notice of the fact that her arms were secured above her. If she noticed that it was Frank talking to her, she didn't acknowledge the fact._

"_Umm, some abandoned warehouse somewhere. I'm not entirely sure of the location myself. Lily's been pretty secretive about the location."_

"_Lily?"_

"_Yeah. She sort of escaped from prison. Surprise." Frank leaned his head back against the wall, satisfied that Nancy wasn't suffering any adverse affects to the drugs as he answered her question in a blank tone. It wasn't very long before he was jolted back into his upright position by her own accusatory tone._

"_You drugged me!"_

"_She told me to put it in your drink." _

"_And you take orders from escaped criminals now?" Frank didn't answer. "I can't believe you set me up! All that crap about wanting to apologize, and what do you really do? You drug and kidnap me!"_

"_Look, I had to. She had a gun at Joe's head! What was I supposed to do? Let her shoot him?"_

"_You could have at least let me have some sort of warning. A code phrase or something. It couldn't possibly be too much to ask for a little, 'one if by land, two if by sea'?"_

"_What do you think I did?"_

"_Jack shit."  
_

"_Oh, because it was perfectly normal for me to be treating you so nicely after months of treating you horribly." Frank rolled his eyes. "Anyone with half a brain would have seen that something was up with that."_

"_Well forgive me for having a little faith left in your humanity." Nancy glared. "And if that was the best you could do at hinting that something was up--,"_

"_I used the phrase humble pie!" Frank cut her off. "Who the hell uses the phrase humble pie anymore? Didn't that strike anything with you?"_

Lily smirked as she muted the TV and then turned around to face her two companions. "Don't you just hate it when mom and dad fight?"

"Actually, I seem to have gotten rather used to it." Joe replied. "What with the fact that it's all they seem to be able to do in each other's presence. The fact that you made it occur really is nothing special."

Lily didn't pull any strength when she backhanded him. She knew that she could have simply shocked him, but first hand violence was much more entertaining. She watched Joe spit out a little blood from his reopened split lip before turning all of her attention to Ben. "And you could just cut the sexual tension between those two with a knife. Which must be difficult for you. I mean really. It must kill you to know that he's the one who gives her the big warm tinglies."

Despite the fact that he in no way desired to be hit or shocked, Ben couldn't stop his remarks. There was just something so annoying about the woman in front of him. "So that's your big plan then? Provoke me with something that I already know? Oh you are one evil, evil genius."

"Watch your mouth." Lily slapped him, somewhat predictably. "I wouldn't want to have to wash it out with soap."

"Oh, you've got me shaking in my boots now Lil." Ben commented. "How _did_ you know that soap was the one thing that puts the fear of God in me?"

Lily turned her attention back over, reaching into her pocket, and pulling out a knife. "Perhaps I can just cut out both of your tongues. That would certainly keep things quiet around here."

A quick nudge from Joe, and the glint of light on the blade of the knife told Ben that it was the appropriate moment to stop mouthing off.

**NDHB**

The silence in the room was quite permeating. In a way, Nancy regretted the fact that there was no way she was going to be speaking with Frank anytime soon, simply due to the fact that it would only serve to worsen things further; the discussion, or argument as it were, would serve to distract from the stiffening in her arms, and the pain coming from her knee. Just the same it would have been nice to have something to listen to other than the sound of their breathing.

The door flew open and Nancy watched Lily enter. Despite the fact that she knew it was her behind the kidnapping, it was still somewhat of a shock to see her former roommate enter with a knife in her hands. The look on her face made Nancy regret wanting to hear something else.

"Nancy, I'm glad to see you're awake." Lily commented.

"Because my state of consciousness really makes that much of a difference to you." Nancy scoffed. "Come off it Lily. I rejected your so-called love. You want me dead, not cognizant. Quite frankly, I'm a little surprised you didn't just kill me in the park."

"Dead was my original intent yes. But after my time away," Lily's coy allusion to her time in prison, "I came to the realization that things could be much more fun than just killing you. I'm going to show you what love with me could be. It's going to be so much fun."

"Yeah it sounds like a bucket of laughs."

"Oh Nance. You have no idea how worked up you make me talking like that." Lily walked further into the room, and slowly sat so she was on Nancy's lap, her legs straddling her around the pole. She leaned in so she was breathing on Nancy's ear. "Now what was it that you said blew your mind in your little journal? Touching your scars?" Lily pulled back and fingered a small nick-like scar on Nancy's shoulder. "I'm sure I can arrange that." She bent down and kissed the scar quickly, and when she pulled back again, she brought her knife forward so it was tracing lightly up Nancy's arm. "Maybe I can even give you a couple new scars for us to play with."

"Keep your hands off of her."

Both Nancy and Lily, looked over at Frank, surprised that he had cut in. The more she thought about it, the more Nancy knew that she shouldn't have been; despite any fight they were having she knew Frank wouldn't wish harm on her.

Lily laughed. "Or what? You'll wound me with your witty repartee?"

Frank simply glared. "I haven't forgotten what I told you the first time you were arrested, Lily. You're going to regret everything that you do."

"Oh, so you're going to punish me?" Lily look amused at the notion. "Maybe I'll keep going then." She turned back to Nancy and went back to her work with the knife, now bringing it back down her arm, barely breaking the skin. A few drops of blood appeared for her efforts.

"I'm warning you Lily, back off."

Lily shot him an amused look over her shoulder. "Down boy. I read all about your talents. You'll get your turn. Maybe I'll even let you have a turn with her."

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Frank stood, knowing that it was not going to end well for him.

Within seconds he was on the floor, feeling the after effects of an electric shock. Lily left her spot with Nancy to kneel next to Frank. She placed the tip of her knife against his stomach. "And I warned you. Now give me one reason why I shouldn't just plunge this knife right into you make a little internal organ soup."

Nancy watched, slightly terrified that Frank was saying nothing. Then an idea hit her. "I can give you one."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Lily asked, amused at the notion.

Nancy hesitated briefly. "Me. I'll do whatever it is you want me to, on the condition that you let Ben, Joe, and Frank go." She had gotten enough out of her fight with Frank to know that Ben had gotten out of the car and gotten himself caught too, and she didn't like it one bit.

"And what's to stop you from misbehaving when they're gone?"

"Well, that's the fun of the game, isn't it Lily?" Nancy started to grow a bit more in confidence. The fact that Lily was even considering it meant that she was at least distracted from Frank. "You don't know. If it will make you feel any better, you can spread the releases out. You keep us all for 48 hours. Then you let Ben go. Another 48 hours go by and you let Joe go. The last 48 hours means that Frank goes free. As long as they're alive when they leave and I receive confirmation that they are alive when they are found, I'll do what want me to."

"Your terms are acceptable. Just let me bring Frank back to your other friends, and we can start to have some fun."

Nancy suddenly realized what she might have gotten herself into. "I'll be waiting with bells on."

**NDHB**

Thoughts?


	10. The Harder They Fall

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I am also not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or pop culture icons mentioned in this story.

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the feedback. Sorry about the delay, but as I am still a student, it was bound to happen.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional. Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter Ten-The Harder They Fall **

Excerpt from E! News Online, article "Strange Road to Recovery":

_November 4__th__, 2008_

_It has barely been 24 hours since the announcement was made that Nancy Drew would be unable to compete in the semi-finals of the current Dancing with the Stars competition due to a knee injury. However, despite reports from the star herself that she would be spending some quiet recovery time with her boyfriend, Ben Wyndham, the star is already causing a stir. Photos of Nancy are being posted online at regular intervals. _

_Nancy is the sole subject of all the pictures, the number of which continues to rise. The photos are in a warehouse setting, and every set uploaded features her in new outfits, which appear to be getting skimpier. And as the clothes get skimpier the pictures become sexier. Confirming the fact that the photo shoot is recent is the evidence that despite the fact that she is not wearing any sort of brace on her knee, there is obvious bruising and swelling._

_So what's going on? Is Nancy just having a bit of fun? Has a private photo shoot for Ben been leaked? It's difficult to say. No text has accompanied any of the pictures posted, and no one contacted has been able to offer any explanation. Updates will come as they become available._

_A link to the pictures has been posted below, but will be removed if the pictures get too racy._

Nancy did her best to think of practically anything other than the woman in front of her while posing for the latest set of pictures. It had been surprising for her that when Lily returned from moving Frank, she had returned with photography equipment and a rack of clothing; when Nancy had made her deal, at the very least temporarily ensuring the safety of Ben, Frank, and Joe, she had expected to be dealing with acts of humiliation, most likely indulging in whatever fantasy of revenge Lily had created.

Instead, Lily had announced that as she considered herself an amateur photographer, a fact that Nancy nearly snorted at, they would be having a photo shoot. And every few dozen or so frames, Lily would provide Nancy with a new outfit to change into.

So far, Nancy had been permitted to change in the small bathroom, just off to the side of the room they were shooting in. If Nancy was going to hazard a guess, she would say that the situation was going to change soon.

"Well those are going to turn out fabulously." Lily announced, putting her camera down.

"Yeah. It's almost like I do it for a living or something." Nancy relaxed from her pose, and leaned against the back wall, thankful to take some of the pressure off of her knee. Lily's current vision was that of a 1940's pinup girl, that left Nancy in a form fitting camisole, garter skirt, and a pair of high heels that were far from comfortable.

"Don't get an attitude, Nancy." Lily tsked. "It's not at all becoming." Then her eyes lit up. "You know what is becoming?"

Nancy sighed. It was getting more than annoying to put up with Lily's comments. "I have a feeling that you're going to tell me."

"I saw what you were wearing earlier. You know...the black lacy push up with the matching thong. That certainly made you look good."

It occurred to Nancy that the bathroom wasn't quite as private as she had thought. "You know how I live to make you happy."

"Now, my question is what were you thinking when you got ready for that little picnic?" Lily sauntered to Nancy, smirking. "Did you think that Frank was just...over his burning hatred for you, and he would just throw you down over the picnic table to have his way with you? That's thinking highly positive. Especially with your boyfriend waiting in the car."

"Actually I figured out that I would be seeing you and just had to look my best."

The sarcastic comment appeared to make Lily snap, if the hand suddenly clasped around Nancy's neck was any indication. She forced Nancy further up against the wall. "Don't patronize me Nancy. It's not very nice."

"Neither is kidnapping or murder, but I'm letting you slide." Nancy hissed through the pressure on the throat. Lily kneed her in the stomach, further depleting her air supply. "What, you don't like the whole verbal sparring thing we have going? Maybe you should have picked a dumber conquest."

"It's not that I need you to be dumb. I just need you to be quiet." Lily answered quickly. She then smiled and relaxed her grip on Nancy's throat. "But I have a solution to that problem."

The moment Lily's lips crashed onto hers, Nancy drew back her fist.

* * *

The air in the room was tense. When Lily had returned Frank to the small room with Ben and Joe, she had disconnected her video connection. This left the three with nothing to do to occupy their time except for their speculations on what was happening with Nancy, unless they wanted to venture into the territory of conversation. Neither Frank, nor Ben was all that willing to do, considering their current relationship. This left the two to twiddle their thumbs in a thick air of silence. As time went on, Joe became less happy about the situation. It was approximately two hours after Frank's return when he could no longer stand the silence.

"All right. Is everyone done with their brooding?" He asked, glancing between the two men. "Because we need to come up with a plan."

"A plan?" Ben raised an eyebrow.

Frank nodded. This was the sort of conversation he could handle easily enough. "Yeah. We need to make sure that we all get out of here."

Ben was still confused. "But I thought Nancy made that deal..."

Joe simply shook his head. "That was more of a moment thing. You can never trust the word of your kidnappers. Especially someone like Lily, who is clearly insane. And even if you could, there'd still be the matter of getting Nancy out. We need to have a rough idea of what we're going to do."

"We'll have to get rid of her anklets." Frank said. "I don't see any of us getting far through those shocks."

"I guess we should--,"

Joe's suggestion was cut off by the door opening. The boys barely caught a glimpse of Lily's form. Nancy's was another matter. She stumbled for a few steps before her knee gave out and she crumbled to the floor. Her appearance came was surprise to the boys. The camisole and garter skirt were a far cry from the jeans and tank top she had been wearing. This didn't take into account the scrape and forming bruise on her face or any other new marks on her body.

"Nancy!" Ben was the first to reach her, and helped her to sit up.

No one seemed to dare to say anything for a moment. Nancy glanced around, making her assessment of their damage. Seeing that they were at least in far better shape than she was, she spoke. "I'm fine. Not a word about the outfit."

"What happened out there?" Ben asked, frowning.

Nancy fingered at the scrape on her cheek, wincing when she saw the blood on her fingers. "Lily and I just had a little disagreement about the photo shoot we were having."

Joe took another look at her outfit before nodding in understanding. "That explains it."

"You guys look like you're OK though." Nancy commented. She turned to Ben, placing a hand on his. "How are you holding up?"

He shrugged. He was in wonder at the fact that it was so easy for him to suppress the majority of his fear in favor of the calm behavior that Frank and Joe seemed to have. "I'm all right, I guess. Frank and Joe have been showing me the ropes."

"The ropes?" Nancy raised an eyebrow.

"You know...you can't trust the word of your abductor, you have to know when to stop antagonizing them so they don't kill you." Joe listed, looking pointedly at Nancy's battered form. "A lesson you apparently missed."

"I gave as good as I got. Forgive me for drawing the line _before_ she could have her way with me." The air got thick with tension at the statement. Nancy paused for a moment before changing the subject. "So, what's our grand plan of escape?"

"Currently we're playing it by ear."

* * *

The next time the door to the small room opened, the captives were sleeping. Frank and Joe had stretched out, using their arms as pillows, while Ben and Nancy had opted to stay sitting up against the wall. Nancy was wearing Ben's sweatshirt, with her head resting on his chest.

"Aww...isn't that cute. Wake up."

The boys' eyes snapped open as Lily activated her bracelets and a shock ripped through her bodies. Nancy didn't stay asleep much longer after the fact. Despite her concern for the boys, she was quite happy to not the long scratches on Lily's face and the missing chunk of hair that had been ripped out during their fight.

"Morning Lily." Joe grunted as he and Frank sat up. "Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"

"You all think you're so witty. You should probably enjoy that while you still can."

Frank rolled his eyes. "Back to the death threats already Lily? Here I thought we were becoming such great friends.

"You, my dear boy, were always nothing more than a means to an end." Lily bent down, and traced finger on Frank's jaw line. "And as it turns out, the end is quite near."

Everyone frowned. "What do you mean, the end is near?" Ben asked guardedly.

"It turns out that the pictures I posted online drew some attention. The police, my connections have informed me, are trying to trace them. Naturally, I've encoded my tracks. But this does mean we're on a bit of a schedule."

Nancy began to get up, pushing herself off of the wall to avoid putting pressure on her ever throbbing knee. "You posted those pictures online?" She inwardly cringed at the thought. As if she wouldn't have been facing enough of a public relations nightmare when the situation ended.

"I thought your adoring public deserved to see you looking so beautiful one last time before your death." Lily said with a mocking time. "I'm sure these boys can appreciate that."

"Leave them out of this."

"I kidnapped them honey. They're in it. Besides, you don't find it the least bit funny that three out of the five people in here are in love with you? Well, four if you count you."

Nancy couldn't immediately find a comeback for this, so she instead opted to change the subject. "Let's get to the point Lily." She shoved her hand into the pocket of Ben's sweatshirt, enclosing her fist around the object she had previously placed there. Once it was hidden within her hand, she started to shrug out of the sweatshirt.

"With this new schedule, I'm sorry to say that my plan has had to revert back to its original state." Lily pulled her gun from the inside of the blazer she was wearing. "Welcome to your own personal room of death, boys and girls."

Frank stood, glowering dangerously. "I warned you, Lily. I warned you the day that you were arrested that I wasn't going to let you do this."

"You won't be feeling nearly as big and manly once you've had a shock or two, or maybe a bullet through your chest. Forgive me if I'm not shaking in my boots just yet."

"That is the second time you've mentioned warning her." Nancy didn't turn to face Frank, but she was addressing him when she asked in a stony voice, "What did you do?"

Lily smirked. "He visited me at the police station to give me the big, 'if you ever fuck with my woman again' speech. Somehow, I doubt it's going to be that big of an issue.

"I can not believe you had the nerve to interfere!"

"I can't believe that you have the nerve to complain about the defense of your honor!" Frank shot back quickly.

Now Joe jumped to his feet, and Lily's attention nearly turned to him. "Guys, I don't think now is really the time to be having this fight."

"Joe's right." In a swift movement, the object in Nancy's hand was revealed to be a switch blade. "I think it's time to end this. You know, you really shouldn't leave these things in your pockets Lily. It was easy enough to get during our fight yesterday."

"Oh please. Don't be such a stupid bitch. Guns beat knives. Do you really think I can't shoot you before you can do anything?"

Nancy shook her head. "You will not get everyone before I can get to you Lily. I may end up dying, but so will you."

"Oh god. I knew I should have called Danny yesterday." Ben ran a hand through his hair nervously. His eyes were panicked, having never been confronted with a situation such as this before. "I'm never leaving this room."

"Ben, relax." As tense as the situation was, Nancy's tone still managed to be soothing. "Danny knows that you love him. Besides, you're going to get out of here."

Both Frank and Lily's heads snapped to face Nancy. "Wait, he's gay?!"

Nancy shrugged wryly. "Surprise."

The room erupted into chaos. The signal had been given. Nancy tossed the pocket knife to Frank, who caught it with ease. Nancy, Frank, and Joe charged Lily. Ben leapt to his feet and ran out of the room.

The gun went off with an explosion of noise, and Frank fell backwards, colliding with Nancy as he did so. She was brought down to the floor as well with a cry of pain as her injured knee was twisted further, and her chin collided with the floor.

The moment Lily realized that Joe was the only one left standing, she turned and shot at him. He dropped to the floor, but rolled back onto his feet. The room grew silent almost instantaneously when Joe held his hands up. Within the seconds, the main basis of their plan had failed.

"All right, all right. No one else needs to get hurt." Joe eyed his brother, who was sitting up, but holding onto his shoulder tightly. "Let's just all calm down."

"But now you've gotten me all excited." Lily practically pouted.

Nancy kept one eye on Lily and Joe's conversation as she retrieved the last remnants of their plan. The two went back and forth for a moment trading insults. A quick nod to Joe, confirmed that he was to continue with his improvisational task of distracting Lily, and then Nancy began to push herself to her feet once more.

"Yeah. That was a real great plan." Joe sniped. "Woo the woman who wants nothing to do with you by going completely psycho bitch Fatal Attraction on her." The gun went off again, and this time, Joe was unable to dodge. He fell to the floor, his hand plastered to his side. It didn't take long for his blood to seep through his fingers.

"Oh look. Three little idiots, all on the floor." Lily cooed with an angry edge to her voice, and she reached into her pocket pulling out a remote. "All we need is one soccer player with a couple more brain cells than the rest of you seem to have, and we'll be able to finish this." She pressed the button, and everyone was able to faintly hear a shout of pain. "Oh, there he is now. I'll go and get him."

Nancy limped a few steps forward, the moment Lily's back was turned. With one hand, she tapped Lily on the shoulder, while the other tightened its grip. "Don't be such a stupid bitch, Lil. Didn't you learn anything in prison?" And the toothbrush, which Nancy had found in the bathroom she had changed in, and that Frank had modified with the pocket knife, was thrust into Lily's stomach. As she withdrew the shiv, Nancy knocked the gun out of Lily's hand.

The wound seemed to ignite a new tenacity in Lily. "You won't beat me Nancy." It didn't take much of a shove to knock Nancy off balance, and everyone heard the crack when she landed on her wrist.

The next thing Nancy saw was a blur of movement. Frank's form collided with Lily's and knocked her into the wall. Her head cracked loudly against the cement and she crumpled to the floor. "She just did."

His attention immediately turned back to his brother and Nancy, and his hand went back to his shoulder. "Let's get out of here. Think you guys can walk?"

* * *

"OK Lucy. I will give three interviews. And I'll go to the finale to show my support for the guys." Nancy sighed. She thought there was something oddly distasteful about negotiating her career moves with her manager in a hospital waiting room, albeit a private one. "As long as none of the interviews are with Oprah or Tyra. I'm not about to cry about this on national television. Quite frankly I'd rather laugh about it." The door opened, and Nancy glanced up to see a nurse leading someone into the room. "Just schedule whichever ones you want, get me the details, and I'll be there...OK. Thanks, Luce. I'll talk to you soon." Nancy hung up her phone and grabbed her crutches so she could stand.

Vanessa frowned when Nancy hobbled over to greet her. "Nance, you didn't have to get up." She admonished. The two hugged. "What's going on? How are the boys?"

"They'll be OK." Nancy assured, and the two sat down. "They were both shot, but Joe's wound is straightforward. The bullet went straight through, and didn't cause any major damage. It nicked an artery, but the doctor's are repairing the damage now."

"That's good." Vanessa breathed a sigh of relief. "What about Frank?"

"He's in surgery now so they can get the bullet out of his shoulder, but with a little physical therapy it looks like he'll be good as new."

"And you're OK right? You look pretty banged up."

"I'm fine. My wrist is broken, and I have to wait for the swelling on my knee to go down before we know how bad it is but...I'll survive."

Vanessa nodded, taking it all in. "And what about Ben? I thought he was with you guys."

"He's just got a couple of bruises. He was going to stay and wait with me, but I convinced him to go home and get some rest."

"How long have you been waiting by yourself."

"Not that long. I just--,"

"Ms. Drew?" A doctor ducked into the room. "Oh, and Ms..."

Vanessa jumped in to introduce herself. "Vanessa Bender."

"Well, Mr. Hardy's surgery has been completed successfully, and he's been moved to recovery if either of you would like to see him."

Nancy frowned. "Which Mr. Hardy?"

"Oh sorry. Mr. Frank Hardy. If you'd like I can bring you to his room and you can check in on him briefly."

Nancy and Vanessa shared a look. "Van, why don't you go on ahead?" Nancy suggested after a brief moment. "I have some...stuff that I need to take care of."

Vanessa looked to the doctor. "Could you just...give us a minute?" He nodded, and was gone just as quickly as he appeared. Vanessa placed a hand on top of Nancy's. "Nance, honey, you aren't a very good liar."

"What?"

"I don't know if it's because you're tired, but...you don't have anything that you need to do. You're avoiding Frank."

"Vanessa..." Nancy trailed off, and Vanessa held up a hand.

"I'm not asking you to tell me why. It's not my business. And I know that I haven't been given even half of the details about what has happened these past couple of...well, whenever this whole thing really started, but don't you think that you should at least be honest with yourself?"

* * *

Frank was asleep when Nancy finally made up her mind that she should go and visit him. At the very least he was still in the anesthesia induced stupor from his surgery. She wasn't entirely sure whether or not to be happy about this fact. In the end, she settled for frustrated.

"Great." She huffed, slumping as gingerly as she could into the bedside chair.

Looking over Frank's form, Nancy had few doubts that he would be at least as sore as she was, if not more when he woke up. His arm was in a sling, his shoulder heavily bandaged. Some secondhand information from Ben, along with their planning session told her that he probably had some cracked ribs that would be bothersome for a while as well.

"Here I am, ready to try and fix things, and here you are unconscious. That's a highly effective use of time." Nancy sighed. After a brief moment's pause, she continued to speak, if only to fill the silence. "Your brother is getting out of surgery now. Van's with him. And your parents are on their way out here. They'll probably meet up with my dad somewhere. I couldn't convince him not to book a flight. I hope you don't mind your folks showing up, because I didn't make any effort to stop them."

Nancy stopped to cough into her hand. Frank made no move to wake up.

"Ben and I were talking earlier. I'm sure you've already figured out by now that Ben and I weren't really dating, given the whole him having a boyfriend thing. I'm sorry I never told you but...well...it doesn't really matter now, does it? We made the decision to break up. He's going to come out and be happy with his life."

Frank's form stirred, and Nancy stopped talking once more. She waited patiently for a few minutes, waiting for him to wake. But he remained asleep, so she started talking again.

"Listen...Frank...I'm here because Vanessa convinced me that it's time for me to be honest with myself, even if I'm not going to be honest with anyone else. Except I realized that it's more complicated than that, because if I'm going to be perfectly honest with myself, then I have to be honest with you.

"You are...such a huge part of me. And if I had any manner of intelligence worth mentioning, I would have accepted that fact years ago and things would be so much different. But I'm an idiot so I just tried to ignore how badly I need you to be a part of my life.

"It kills me that I'm the one who did this to us. I keep thinking that if I had let things happen when we were younger instead of those chicken shit excuses then none of this would have happened. Instead I buried everything until...well, we quite literally fucked it up. Now we can't talk to each other without wanting to slap one another.

"I hate that I let that happen. That I couldn't just break down and tell you the truth, so maybe you would understand why I didn't see the fault in it. I really hate the fact that we're probably never really going to talk again. I hate myself because you're probably never going to know how much I'm in love with you. That's what really kills me."

Nancy thumbed at the tears on her face before grabbing her crutches and standing to leave. She refused to cry.

* * *

Thoughts? One chapter left.


	11. Kiss the Rain

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series

Disclaimer: I do not own Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, or the characters associated with these series. I am also not affiliated with any of the shows, celebrities, or pop culture icons mentioned in this story.

Author's Notes: Thanks for all the feedback. As I mentioned the before, this will be the last chapter of this particular story. I want to thank everyone for reviewing and sticking with the story throughout all of the delays. It means a lot that you wanted to read this.

This story will mention several real celebrities, in relation to the characters knowing them and interacting with them, however I will not be attempting to write any of these characters into the story. The only people that the characters will be interacting with that you really see will be fictional. Since this story is fictional and technically takes place in the future, I am taking liberties with the things that will happen in the pop culture world. I am not an authority on any of this, and have no knowledge that certain things will happen.

The dates at the top of the excerpts at the beginning should be used as a timeline for the story.

**Chapter 11-Kiss the Rain**

Excerpt from Frank Hardy's Inbox; Subject: "Undeliverable Item":

_November 10__th__, 2008_

_**System alert: **_

_**The following message (Subject "Well, this is awkward...") was undeliverable due to a system failure.**_

_Nancy,_

_Well, this is awkward..._

_I don't know if there will ever be the right words to describe what's happened between us. There isn't a set of words that really conveys everything that is our relationship and I doubt there ever could be, so I don't think that explaining what's happened, even to ourselves would be any easier. It makes it difficult, because maybe if I could define what happened, it might make it easier for me to apologize._

_I think our main problem was our expectations. We've known each other for a long time, and in some ways we've been in a relationship on an emotional level for almost the same amount of time. Through all the connections we had, we built up in our minds what our relationship would be. I would break up with Callie, and you would break up with Ned, and in some romantic moment of clarity we would kiss and live happily ever after. Only that's definitely not the way it happened, and I think we both had our problems dealing with the fact that things weren't perfect. But mostly me._

_I handled my disappointment extremely poorly. Instead of talking, I got angry, and instead of thinking, I ran away. Basically, when you went to college and then on to LA, you grew up, and when I went to college I didn't changed a thing and pretty much stayed a teenager._

_I am glad that I was finally able to learn the truth about everything, and now it's a lot easier for me to understand. You were just trying to help someone, and what happened between us only served to make that harder for you. It hurts that you didn't trust me with your secret, although I realize that I didn't give you the opportunity to, and even if I had, it was really Ben's decision. Of course now you don't have much of a reason to trust me. But I hope to give you a reason to._

_I realize how much ground has to be made up. I said a lot of regrettable things that I think both of us will need some time to get over. So I'm pretty sure baby steps are in order to make this work. We could start small, maybe casually run into each other at a coffee shop and talk for a few minutes before I have to fly back out to Bayport. At the very least it would give me the chance to properly apologize._

_So if you have any inclination to try and rebuild our relationship, or at the very least see me humiliate myself in the attempt to apologize, then please, e-mail me, or call me, or something. I don't want this fight to be our legacy. Sleeping together should be the start of our relationship, not the end of it._

_I really hope that we can make this work._

_Love,_

_Frank_

"Do you ever get the feeling that the world is completely against you?" Frank did not appreciate the laugh that came out of his father's mouth at the question. He closed his laptop, frustrated.

"Feeling like a pair of brown shoes, Frank?"

"What?"

"It's an old line from...never mind." Fenton shook his head. "What exactly is the problem?"

Frank hesitated before answering. His father had known for some time that something was bothering him. It was only natural, considering how short tempered and agitated he had been. However, so far Frank had managed not to tell his father what the problem, despite multiple questioning attempts if only for one reason. His dad was absolutely no good at advice unless it revolved around work. Just the same, he clearly needed some sort of help. "I'm trying to apologize to someone. I sent them an e-mail to try and set it up three days ago. The server must have been backed up or something because I only just got the alert saying that they never got the e-mail." He shoved his laptop aside with the arm that wasn't trapped in a sling.

"Well...in my day we called people to arrange these meetings. You _could_ go old fashioned."

"And I _could_ win the lottery. That doesn't mean that they're anymore likely to answer the phone if I were to call." Frank sighed and immediately regretted it. Fenton knew that sigh. It had signified trouble with his love life since he had been thirteen.

Fenton raised an eyebrow. "They or she?"

"She." Frank answered begrudgingly.

"Well, I'm sure you're familiar with my advice on the subject."

"Go crawling back to her with a bouquet of her favorite flowers and a box of her favorite chocolates between my teeth." Frank recited. To Fenton's credit, this method had gotten him out of nearly every fight he had with Laura. Just the same, he wasn't jumping to use it. "She has far too many of both."

"If it's that serious jewelry might be the way to go."

Frank sent his father an extremely unpleased look. It was bad enough that he had gotten his romantic inclinations from Fenton, while Joe had inherited his mother's notions. Granted, this was a good thing for Joe in the end, but at this moment, when he actually need some sort of advice, it was entirely unfortunate. "OK. Dad, no offense, but your advice is terrible. Where's mom?"

"She's in the other room, fighting Vanessa for one last chance to coddle your brother before we fly back home and all of the coddling goes to Vanessa by default."

"I don't suppose you want to go tag her out so I can talk to her? I'll even surrender myself to the coddling."

"And face having the same problem as you finding the right apology? Sorry Frank, but I don't think I want to risk that. Why don't you just try and send the e-mail again? I'm sure she'll be more than willing to listen to you."

"Several things are wrong with that plan. The first of which being now that I've read the e-mail I realize how incoherent it is. I was still hopped up on the strong painkillers, and it was laughable. Besides, we leave town tomorrow morning. There won't be any time to actually see her."

This bit of information was just enough for Fenton to latch onto. "And you think this is something that you should apologize to Nancy for in person."

Frank briefly closed his eyes, wondering for a moment exactly how much he'd be forced to divulge now. "Yes. The girl is Nancy. We had a fight. A big one. More than one technically. And most of it was my fault so I'm trying to apologize but I can't seem to reach her." He paused, realizing that being forced wasn't going to be the problem. Stopping was. "I've seen her in her interviews and on the finale last night, and all I can think about is--," He stopped himself. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Do you know why the flowers and the chocolates and all of the other things work Frank?" Fenton asked for a moment. "Because once they're accompanied by a rambling apology they demonstrate my intent of making things right. Call her. E-mail her. Do something. Even if you can't see her in person you can at least let her know that you want to do the right thing." Fenton had his mouth open to say more when there was a knock at the door. He stood and went to answer it, wondering who it was; few people knew where the hotel room was, and he doubted that Frank had ordered any room service. To say that he was surprised by the visitor would have been a slight understatement. "Mr. Wyndham, what brings you here?"

The soccer player flashed a small, somewhat nervous smile. "It's Ben, please, Mr. Hardy."

"Well then, I'll have to insist on Fenton."

"Actually I was hoping to see Frank." Ben informed. "That is, if he's not sleeping, and if he wants to see me."

Fenton opened the door so Ben could step into the room. "Frank, Ben here would like to have a word with you. I'm going to go check in on your mom and Joe."

"That's really not necessary Fent-." But by the time Ben had half of the sentence out of his mouth, Fenton had already gone through the door that adjoined to the next room. After a brief moment, he eyed Frank, who was sitting at the small hotel desk. "Hey."

"Hi." Frank regarded Ben slightly suspiciously. He couldn't think of a reason that the man would want to come and visit him. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, I was hoping that there was something I could do for you." Ben answered quickly, dropping the bag he had on the floor, and shoving his hands into his pockets. "I want to thank you properly for saving my life and all. Especially since you got shot for all your trouble."

Frank shook his head. "I was really just doing my job. You don't owe me anything."

"I didn't say I had to thank you. I said I wanted to. Anyway, I spent some time thinking, and I thought of something that you could use some help with."

"I don't need help with anything." Frank wasn't entirely sure that he liked where the conversation was going. It was awkward enough to spend any amount of time with the man who had (sort of) been dating Nancy without her being there.

"And if it weren't for the fact that you look like someone who's at the end of their first week of post-breakup moping, I would believe you." Ben shook his head.

"Ben, please..."

"Frank, I 'm not stupid." Ben sat down on the edge of the bed. "You're in love with her. And you have been probably since way before you slept together. But instead of doing anything about it, you're sitting in your hotel room watching her television interviews thinking about how much you love her and how much it blows that you don't stand a chance with her now."

"And what makes you think that there is anything you could possibly do to fix that?" Frank realized slightly too late that he didn't deny anything.

Ben ignored the question. "Except what you don't seem to realize is that behind her pretty smiles for the camera she is thinking the exact same thing about you. You stand a chance Frank. Just not like this."

"What do you mean like this?"

"She's not going to take back some unshaven, moping shell of a man." Ben pointed out. "She's going to take back the guy that she fell in love with."

"She's too busy to see me right now anyways."

"Then call her."

"So I'm supposed to call her and say 'I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean as much when I'm not in front of you and groveling, but you should know that I mean it, because I love you.' Is that it?"

Ben shrugged. "I think that would work quite well."

"Look, thanks for coming out here and trying to help, but I don't think that this is the way that I should handle this." Frank stood, slowly, in order to avoid aggravating his injuries.

"Fair enough." Ben stood as well, giving in far more easily than Frank had anticipated. "Just do me a favor and don't let her slip away, all right? You both deserve to be happy." The two shook hands, and Ben picked up his bag, and was almost out of the room when he turned back. "I almost forgot." He started to rifle through the bag. "Nancy found out that I was coming out here to thank you guys and she wanted me to give this to you. Don't worry. She doesn't know that I was going to bring up your relationship."

Frank took the stuffed yellow Labrador puppy dressed as a knight in shining armor in one hand. "Oddly enough, I think I'm more concerned about the fact that she gave me a stuffed animal from Build-a-Bear than the fact that she might think we're trying to fix our relationship."

Ben shook his head. "Who knows? Girls can be weird like that." He coughed into his hand. "Thanks again for the whole life saving thing. I'll send you and Joe a set of tickets to the first game we have in New York as your actual thank you gift."

"Thanks for stopping by. I guess I'll talk to you."

Once Ben was gone, Frank sat down on the edge of the bed, holding onto the stuffed animal and looking over it curiously. Nancy had given him a stuffed dog. He couldn't fathom why, unless she was equating him to a dog, which the particular outfit it had been clad in didn't equate with. He squeezed the toy's torso halfheartedly, and almost immediately he could hear Nancy's voice.

"I wish we could live in some sort of fairy tale world where we could find each other and live happily ever after, just prince charming and the well...calling myself a princess would seem a little conceited but...We don't. So hopefully saying I love you will be enough."

**NDHB**

"Tell you what? Why don't you go out and get some supplies? I'll keep an eye on her while you're gone."

Nancy pushed herself into a sitting position as she woke up, to the female voice talking with her father outside of her bedroom door. She would know that voice anywhere. Carson agreed to the speaker's plan and moments later the door to her bedroom opened. In walked Bess, looking tanned, perfectly coiffed, and quite displeased.

"OK, first of all, you need to open up your curtains and get some light in here." Bess walked straight to the windows to complete the task. "You're never going to win that man back if you look like you've never seen the sun before."

"I was sleeping." Nancy answered indignantly, choosing to ignore the implications in Bess' statement. "Shouldn't you be with Brian?"

Bess sat down on the bed near Nancy's feet. "We just had our honeymoon. And as much as I love him, you're my best friend. I've wanted to come and see you since you first called and told me everything. How are you doing?"

"Well, the swelling on my knee is almost done enough for the doctor's to find out if I need surgery."

"That's not what I meant and you know it. I happen to know that whenever you're not making your appearances you have been sitting in here alternating between sleeping, silent moping, and crying. Your dad is worried."

Nancy sighed, fingering at her hair, which she knew was a mess. "I know. I'm pretty sure he would go and kill Frank except for the fact that he's not sure if I'm crying because of him or what happened with Lily."

"Oh sweetie." Bess reached over and rubbed Nancy's shoulder. "It's gonna be OK. I mean, he can't stay mad at you forever. He's probably just as torn up about this as you are. More torn up even."

"That's what Ben said."

"Well, he's right. You know men. They don't have a clue how to operate without someone else in their life."

Nancy shook her head. "And what if that someone's not supposed to be me?"

"Oh please." Bess scoffed. "You and Frank were tailor made for each other. That's why you had this fight and not some stupid, 'can't you put your socks in the hamper?' fight."

"That doesn't make any sense."

Bess gave her a pointed look. "People who don't like each other pick fights over stupid things, and eventually they never get back together again. People who love each other pick fights over the big stuff and they get stronger for it."

"I don't know how you ended up being my assistant. You should have gone into the advice business."

"Sweetie, I am in the advice business. I give you advice practically every day." Bess patted her on the shoulder reassuringly. "Why don't you get dressed while I make you some tea, and dig out that cookie dough I know you have hidden away in your fridge?"

"Sounds like a plan." Nancy finally nodded. Bess was right in that she couldn't spend the rest of her life moping. "Could you get me my crutches please? They're right on the floor."

"Sure." Bess stood and walked over to the other side of the bed, where she saw the crutches and a box. "What's in the box?" She leaned over and picked it up, forgetting about the crutches briefly.

Nancy glanced over at it. "Oh, I don't know. Ben dropped it off yesterday when I was asleep. Dad says that he said it was something from Frank, but I never got around to opening it."

"Well...open it." Bess urged, shoving the box into Nancy's hands. "For all you know you've had an apology waiting on your floor for practically a day and you've been ignoring it."

After a brief moment, Nancy complied. She opened the box and pulled out a stuffed cheetah with a World Wildlife Fund pendant hanging around its neck and wearing a crown of white and blue flowers. "He went to Build-a-Bear." She announced more than a little confused by the gesture.

"That's sweet. See, he's trying to show you that he cares. Did he leave a note or anything?"

Nancy was holding the stuffed animal down on the bed so she could search through the box with her good hand when she heard Frank's voice.

"I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean as much when I'm not in front of you and groveling, but you should know that I mean it, because I love you."

A few moments of silence later and Nancy had started to cry, while Bess had gained an extremely determined look. "OK. That's it. It's time to pull your self up by your bra straps and go get that man."

**NDHB**

Nancy looked over her apartment once more assessing the details. Everything was cleaned and put away, making it presentable. The table was set, minus the food which was being kept warm on the stove; a bottle of wine was chilling in the center. The apartment was perfect, and Bess had seen to it that she matched. They had gone to the spa and gotten the full works. Bess was out to dinner with Brian and Carson, while she was waiting for Frank to show up.

She had barely believed it when he had actually answered the phone, and had been even more incredulous when he had agreed to come over for dinner. Now with every minute that went by, she got more and more nervous about the fact that Frank wasn't there yet.

A knock at the door startled her from her thoughts. She hobbled over, briefly cursing the fact that she had to be on the crutches at all, and then she fumbled one handedly with the door while trying to balance before she finally managed to have any success. The momentum of opening the door led to her balance being thrown off and she stumbled to the side.

A hand darted out and caught her, pulling her back up into a standing position. "Whoa there. You umm...got a hair cut"

Frank and Nancy shared a nervous laugh. "Hey there." She greeted, allowing him into the apartment. She briefly fingered at her now mid-neck length hair "How are you?"

"I'm good. I finished packing today, since we leave tomorrow."

"Right."

"What about you?"

"Oh, I'm just...peachy." Nancy did her best to put a smile on through her nerves. The two waited for the other to say something, but it didn't happen. Instead they stood just inside the apartment door, staring at each other for several minutes.

"So..."

"Yeah. So..."

Frank wasn't entirely sure what came over him. One minute he was waiting awkwardly across the room for something to come at him and inspire him for his apology, and the next minute he was standing directly in front of her, cupping her chin with his good hand, and kissing her. A moment later their lips parted, and they both smiled softly. "About what happened..."

"You're sorry." Nancy filled in for him. "I know. I'm sorry too."

"I know." He nodded, and leaned his forehead down to rest on hers. "I just wish that we could start over and do things right."

"Who says we can't?"

**NDHB**

Nancy's head was resting comfortably on Frank's chest while his fingers ran through her now shorter hair. Everything felt right. Things had gone better than she had hoped. Granted things had also gone much more gingerly than they had before, but it had still been more than she knew was proper to expect. "See? We have officially started over." She announced proudly, reaching up to grab on to his hand, weaving her fingers through his.

"I'm so glad you called me. If we hadn't gotten to see each other..." Frank trailed off.

"I know. But it's really thanks to you. If you hadn't given Ben that stuffed animal to give me I wouldn't have gotten your message."

"My message? But you had Ben give me that stuffed dog." Frank sat up a little, starting to frown.

Nancy shook her head. "No, I..." Realization dawned on her. "You know the common element here seems to be Ben. I think he set us up."

"That figures."

Nancy worried a little when Frank didn't relax right away. Ben always seemed to come up at the most inopportune moments. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah." Frank squeezed her hand once, sliding back down. "I'm just trying to think of the proper way to thank him."

"I'm sure we'll be able to think of something."

The two sat in a very comfortable silence, listening to each other breathing for a moment before Frank spoke again. "I wish I didn't have to leave tomorrow. Now that we finally got ourselves together."

"I would come with you in a heartbeat."

"But..."

"But I found a job that wants me right away that I'm really interested in." Nancy sighed.

Frank echoed her sigh. "I guess this was always our way wasn't it? Getting along great and then parting ways?"

"We're not parting ways. We're just...living in different places."

"You really want this job?"

"I think it will be good for me. Therapeutic. It's a sitcom. And it has absolutely nothing to do with danger or mysteries."

"That does sound therapeutic." Frank kissed her temple. "I don't think I could stand in your way even if I wanted to."

"Thank you."

"I'll just have to find some cases that will get me out here more often." The two shared another kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

**NDHB**

The End. Thoughts?


End file.
